tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-85501472149749947762024-03-25T05:01:52.614+05:30Palsworld<a href="http://www.indiblogger.in/topic.php?topic=1" title="Nov 2008 - Remember Mumbai">
<img src="http://www.indiblogger.in/badges/big_remember_mumbai_nov_2008.png" width="145" height="128" border="0" alt="Nov 2008 - Remember Mumbai">
</a>palsworldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03335844971003117045noreply@blogger.comBlogger128125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8550147214974994776.post-23583080680584188512024-03-10T11:11:00.001+05:302024-03-10T11:11:10.619+05:30Book Review: Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson<p>Definitely one of the best books I have ever read about one of the greatest minds to have ever walked on the face of the earth, and hopefully Mars someday.</p><p>Reading this book made me think there's no way that Musk can be human - like you and me, he too has only 24 hours in a day; but unlike you and me, he's currently running 6 companies - SpaceX, Tesla, Neuralink, The Boring Company, Twitter and X.AI.</p><p>And when Musk talks about running companies, it means he's actively and minutely involved in each & every process in each & every company. The guy knows pretty much everything about everything, is an avid reader, an addicted video games player, a memes lover, a doting father, passionate about wanting to save the world through his work be it electric cars, or providing Internet connectivity, implanting chips into human brains to assist the paralyzed, or send humans into space!</p><p>As the book details - Musk is a tough taskmaster. He's impatient, abrasive, sets impossible deadlines, has no sense of work life balance, expects people to work mostly all the time, doesn't tolerate fools, hates when people don't have ready answers to his questions. But he's also willing to listen to good ideas and is willing to change his mind when presented with hard facts.</p><p>The author asks whether Musk would be able to achieve all that he has - probably the only human in the world to do so at this point in time - if he weren't what he is. His childhood in South Africa has contributed to the way he grew up as an adult - willing to take risks, willing to fail but fail fast and recover and hit back at his detractors.</p><p>While most of his deadlines seemed crazy and unattainable when Musk uttered them, by pushing his team to achieve the impossible, he stood vindicated. His maxim is complacency will be the death of innovation and creativity. Keep hustling, keep trying seems to be his mantra.</p><p>Musk isn't without his dramas. In fact, as the author details throughout the book, Musk gets attracted to drama and a sense of urgency in his life. Without it, he feels listless. He needs stress to feel alive!</p><p>Reading this book while observing Musk's persona on Twitter has been fun - some of the times, his tweets make no sense or need someone to explain what he means; his rude responses to his former colleagues be it at OpenAI or Twitter are sometimes quite unnerving; his philosophical tweets about our civilization and life on Mars surely make one ponder.</p><p>I read this book almost breathlessly because I couldn't wait to find out what happens next. And now that I have finished the book, I feel a sense of emptiness - as if an enriching conversation with a very close friend has come to an end.</p><p>I heartily recommend this book to those who wish to find out what goes on in Musk's brain - what is he driven by; how does he manage to get up every single day and push his team to achieve the impossible!</p>palsworldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03335844971003117045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8550147214974994776.post-85857791270860821022024-03-07T22:45:00.007+05:302024-03-07T22:45:58.125+05:30International Women's Day: How the Modi Govt. is revolutionizing the lives of women<p><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">On the 8</span><sup style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> of March
every year, one celebrates International Women’s Day. It is a day
to appreciate and acknowledge women.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I thought it would be a good
opportunity to list down 5 important schemes of the Narendra Modi
Govt. ever since he took over as the Prime Minister (PM) in May’14.</span></p>
<p align="justify" class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">In his first Independence Day
speech as the PM, when Modi spoke about building toilets for women,
it surprised quite a few and shocked a few others. However, what he
spoke were not mere words. Since the launch of the Swachh Bharat
Mission in Oct’14 till date, over 11 crore toilets have been built
across all states/Union Territories.</span></p>
<p align="justify" class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">That such a simple thing took
so long to identify and build is something that most of struggle to
even wrap our heads around. But that is exactly what Modi did. He
looked at a few simple things and thought of ways to resolve them to
ease the day-to-day lives of women. No wonder women are voting in
higher numbers for Modi and the BJP.</span></p>
<p align="justify" class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Another scheme of the Modi
Govt. is the Jal Jeevan Mission which was announced in Aug’19. As
at date, ~75% of the rural households have been provided with tap
water connections; 11 states & Union Territories have achieved
100% coverage in rural areas. Again such a simple thing – clean
running water flowing from a tap in one’s home; something most of
us take for granted. And yet it was not thought upon till Modi
appeared on the scene.</span></p>
<p align="justify" class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">One of the most important
schemes in my opinion is the Ujjwala Yojana, launched in May’16, to
provide LPG gas connections in rural households, which were hitherto
using wood, coal, etc. to cook. Studies have shown how cooking with
wood and coal leads to acute and chronic respiratory diseases, in
addition to eye irritations. Till 2022, 9.49 crore LPG connections
have been provided to the beneficiaries.</span></p>
<p align="justify" class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The Jan-Dhan Yojana – the
flagship scheme for financial inclusion – was launched in Aug’14.
Its aim is financial inclusion for all in the form of banking
facilities. As at date, 56% of the bank accounts belong to women.</span></p>
<p align="justify" class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Beti Bachao Beti Padhao was
launched in Jan’15 to address the declining gender ratio. The
scheme’s success lies in the fact that the sex ratio at birth has
improved by 15 points from 918 in 2014-15 to 933 in 2022-23 in India.</span></p>
<p align="justify" class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">All the above schemes are to
empower women and give them a sense of dignity. Before the toilets
were built, women often had to travel long distances that too either
before sunrise or late at night. In addition to safety, building
toilets has also reduced the prevalence of diseases. Before tap
water, women ended up having to spend a large part of their day
travelling to water sources to fill up and store water. They no
longer need to do that courtesy the Jal Jeevan Mission. The direct
benefit of Ujjwala Yojana is the health benefits it provided to
women, who are more likely to cook in a household. Having one’s own
bank account gives one a sense of financial independence. Saving the
girl child and valuing her is a huge societal improvement metric.</span></p>palsworldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03335844971003117045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8550147214974994776.post-28738069675603664672023-01-15T20:18:00.000+05:302023-01-15T20:18:21.332+05:30Book Review: Braving A Viral Storm by Aashish Chandorkar & Suraj Sudhir<p><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhfiSW6S0ZHaEAdUvMAE9ouKBkfRtDIr0l06R8vdiDd15xhmkV8o0A3F_mSmuqkY-C7K-gF7BdGUzg0x0V5rzCqz3QPN-A1hl5J4mxarP67bhrH8luKMtzL9e8P06qBiKSkcnPA91R4s8e5wP1ueiOhbUw2rDTCOp_0S4qwTPNZr33KUmyYS1Wq9AP0" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2560" data-original-width="1590" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhfiSW6S0ZHaEAdUvMAE9ouKBkfRtDIr0l06R8vdiDd15xhmkV8o0A3F_mSmuqkY-C7K-gF7BdGUzg0x0V5rzCqz3QPN-A1hl5J4mxarP67bhrH8luKMtzL9e8P06qBiKSkcnPA91R4s8e5wP1ueiOhbUw2rDTCOp_0S4qwTPNZr33KUmyYS1Wq9AP0" width="149" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><div><p align="justify" style="line-height: 108%; margin-bottom: 0.28cm;"><span style="font-size: large;">
“<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span><span lang="en-US">Life
can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.”
Soren Kierkegaard</span></span></span></span></p>
<p align="justify" style="line-height: 108%; margin-bottom: 0.28cm;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="en-US">As
the Covid-19 pandemic hit, and slowly ravaged, the world in 2020 &
2021, and, now with the hindsight of the past 3 years, these words of
Kierkegaard struck me. From a position of ignorance to fear and, from
a sense of hope to relief, we have come a long way. And the credit
for this goes no doubt to India’s almost miraculous vaccination
drive. Dubbed as the #LargestVaccinationDrive, in retrospect, it
seems simple and not so much of a big deal. The authors of this book
tell us why this was not so.</span></span></span></p>
<p align="justify" style="line-height: 108%; margin-bottom: 0.28cm;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="en-US">Beginning
from when India reported its first case on 30</span><sup><span lang="en-US">th</span></sup><span lang="en-US">
Jan’ 20, to the entire vaccine R&D process (including the focus
on Aatmanirbharta), EUAs being granted for 2 indigenous vaccines, to
the vaccine rollout (including detailed logistics of the vaccine
suppliers, cold storage chains, vaccinators, people behind the
scenes, etc.), and the current vaccination status, the book really
captures the journey India has traversed in the last 3 years.
[Incidentally, 16</span><sup><span lang="en-US">th</span></sup><span lang="en-US">
Jan’ 23 will be 2 years from the day the vaccine rollout started in
the country].</span></span></span></p>
<p align="justify" style="line-height: 108%; margin-bottom: 0.28cm;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="en-US">The
authors detail the entire process of how the Govt. machinery got into
immediate action mode in Mar’20 itself, beginning with the creation
of a task force, pushing for vaccines’ development nationally,
monitoring the national & international happenings (including
publishing daily data on the vaccine supplies & vaccinations
done), etc.</span></span></span></p>
<p align="justify" style="line-height: 108%; margin-bottom: 0.28cm;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="en-US">The
odds were stacked against India & the developing world in terms
of financial & operational constraints for developing a vaccine.
And yet, the ingenuity of Indian pharmaceutical firms & its
scientists enabled it to manufacture not 1 but 2 vaccines which
covered most of the population. They were aided by the CoWIN
platform, which became the fastest tech platform globally to amass 20
crore registrations in less than 4 months. It routinely handled more
than a billion visits daily at the peak of the vaccination process [I
may have contributed to some of those visits myself :)</span><span lang="en-US">]</span></span></span></p>
<p align="justify" style="line-height: 108%; margin-bottom: 0.28cm;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="en-US">The
book details how India’s fortitude, courage, conviction, collective
efforts & foresight enabled it to tide over this crisis. Its
people had an unflinching trust in the country’s leadership &
scientists. Several challenges in the vaccination process, including
scale, readiness to take vaccines, training the medical personnel,
etc., were overcome through four Ps – process, people, platform &
persuasion. What India demonstrated during the Covid-19 response is
that it has a sophisticated public that understands the challenges of
execution & also recognizes both basic & sophisticated
solutions being delivered to solve long-pending problems.</span></span></span></p>
<p align="justify" style="line-height: 108%; margin-bottom: 0.28cm;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="en-US">This
is not to say that the process proceeded without any criticisms. The
vaccination rollout was questioned, lampooned, prejudged, subjected
to a veiled ridicule, etc. But as Alexandre Dumas noted, “Nothing
succeeds like success.”</span></span></span></p>
<p align="justify" style="line-height: 108%; margin-bottom: 0.28cm;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="en-US">The
detailed discussion on Aatmanirbhar Bharat – how India stood its
ground while fighting against pressure from international pharma
firms, their domestic lobbyists & global amplifiers was an
interesting read. So was the chapter on Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam,
especially Vaccine Maitri, in which India sent vaccines to several
low & middle income developing friendly nations [by the time the
Delta wave hit India in Apr’21, it had supplied vaccines to ~95
different countries & entities; by the end of Oct’22, India had
exported ~27 crore vaccine doses to 100 countries]. India also fought
for IPR issues at WTO & sought TRIPS waiver. The WTO developments
ensured that India received a lot of goodwill from the developing
world & from the Global South.</span></span></span></p>
<p align="justify" style="line-height: 108%; margin-bottom: 0.28cm;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="en-US">I
got literal goosebumps reading Pg. Nos. 168-169: “Young India
believes” – why the youth embraced vaccination so
enthusiastically.</span></span></span></p>
<p align="justify" style="line-height: 108%; margin-bottom: 0.28cm;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="en-US">As
of 15</span><sup><span lang="en-US">th</span></sup><span lang="en-US">
Jan’ 23, India has crossed 220 crore vaccination doses; 2 years
from the start of the vaccination drive. This would have seemed
almost entirely unbelievable to someone at the start of the journey.</span></span></span></p>
<p align="justify" style="line-height: 108%; margin-bottom: 0.28cm;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="en-US">The
book is quite an interesting and easy read, peppered with a lot of
anecdotes, data (numbers + tables), and facts (including how other
nations dealt with this) about the vaccination journey. It seeks to
remind us of how difficult the path has been, especially for India,
and how it has come out strongly in the fight against Covid-19,
helmed by a strong leadership, ably supported by the innovative
skills of our scientists & the humble backing of our various
institutions including BIRAC, DBT, DCGI, ICMR, IISc, NIV, etc.</span></span></span></p>
<p align="justify" style="line-height: 108%; margin-bottom: 0.28cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a name="_GoBack"></a>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span><span lang="en-US">While
reading the book, there were quite a few things which I learned for
the first time, including:</span></span></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li><p align="justify" style="line-height: 108%; margin-bottom: 0.28cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="en-US">Louis
Pasteur’s work led to doctors beginning to use personal protective
equipment (PPE).</span></span></span></p></li><li><p align="justify" style="line-height: 108%; margin-bottom: 0.28cm;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">India
took longer than Somalia, Ethiopia, & all of sub-Saharan Africa
to eradicate polio.</span></span></p></li><li><p align="justify" style="line-height: 108%; margin-bottom: 0.28cm;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Most
of the contributed smallpox vaccine was provided under bilateral
agreements by the USSR, which donated more than 1,400 million doses
from 1958 to 1979.</span></span></p></li><li><p align="justify" style="line-height: 108%; margin-bottom: 0.28cm;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Indian
states already had databases on individuals with co-morbidities,
which were created through non-communicable disease screenings done
by health & wellness centres.</span></span></p></li><li><p align="justify" style="line-height: 108%; margin-bottom: 0.28cm;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Introduced
in 2015, the Electronic Vaccine Intelligence Network, or eVIN,
predated Covid-19 by several years. The CoWIN platform was
extrapolated from this.</span></span></p></li><li><p align="justify" style="line-height: 108%; margin-bottom: 0.28cm;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Mumbai
airport has Asia’s biggest import cold chain capacity, with a
storage capacity of more than 30,000 tonnes.</span></span></p></li></ul>
<p align="justify" style="line-height: 108%; margin-bottom: 0.28cm;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="en-US">Some
of the sentences in the book that I really loved:</span></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li><p align="justify" style="line-height: 108%; margin-bottom: 0.28cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="en-US">India
was up to the task of this global arranging of deckchairs.</span></span></span></p></li><li><p align="justify" style="line-height: 108%; margin-bottom: 0.28cm;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">The
commentary was basically the tyranny of the op-ed space – the one
with the access to the opinion can have a field day alleging
practically anything.</span></span></p></li><li><p align="justify" style="line-height: 108%; margin-bottom: 0.28cm;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">When
complex processes work exactly as planned, there is not much
analysis of why things worked the way they were supposed to.</span></span></p></li></ul>
<p align="justify" style="line-height: 108%; margin-bottom: 0.28cm;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="en-US">And,
last but not the least, the last sentence in the Acknowledgements:
Your faith is our booster dose of motivation.</span></span></span></p></div>palsworldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03335844971003117045noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8550147214974994776.post-87876311061578664722022-11-20T13:00:00.008+05:302022-11-20T13:00:41.271+05:30Book Review: The Magicians Of Mazda: Ashwin Sanghi<p><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I have been a huge fan of
Ashwin Sanghi’s writing and when I read that he is out with a new
book – The Magicians of Mazda – I knew I had to get my hands on
it. The kind folks at Indica Books sent me a review copy and I
couldn’t be thrilled.</span></p>
<p align="justify" class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Like any other Ashwin Sanghi
book, this one is a combination of history, geography, science, and
architecture, backed by a lot of research into the smallest of
things.</span></p>
<p align="justify" class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">It starts with a Parsi
scientist Jim Dastoor getting abducted from his laboratory in Seattle
and from there the story traverses Tehran and Afghanistan, while in
between also reaching Diu & Kashmir in India. It’s written in a
quite a thrilling fashion and the reader is always intrigued to find
out what’s going to happen next. Also, his writing style is such
that one is always suspecting almost all the characters, thinking one
of them is going to frame the other.</span></p>
<p align="justify" class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: left;">There is also a lot of
discussion in and around how the Parsis came to be in India, how did
they set up their fire temples in different places in West India,
primarily Gujarat, and how the protagonist of the story is entrusted
with a Parsi secret, as part of his legacy; a secret which some
people would even kill to lay their hands on.</span></p>
<p align="justify" class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: left;">While I enjoyed reading the
book, and getting to know how similar Parsi and Hindu rituals are,
especially with respect to worshipping the fire, at some places, the
book becomes quite tedious to keep track of. I kept going back and
forth sometimes trying to figure out who the different characters
referred to in the book are.</span></p>palsworldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03335844971003117045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8550147214974994776.post-71691397522533849582021-04-18T16:02:00.004+05:302021-04-18T16:06:26.467+05:30Book Review: Sanghi Who Never Went To A Shakha by Rahul Roushan<p>For those who are active on social media, especially Twitter, Rahul Roushan is not an unknown name. His tweets come across as witty oozing with satire and sarcasm, with pithy observations on the happenings in our world, especially in the political world. So I had to get my hands on the first book written by him.</p><p>Rahul has not written anything new in his book. And yet, it is a very important book; one that needs to be read by as many people as possible, in India and around the world – especially by people like me – urban, educated, middle-class/upper middle-class, to know what has seemingly changed in India over the last 7 years; why do we see the masses getting so vocal about their beliefs and opinions, and the how and why of the rise of Modi.</p><p>Like Rahul, I too was not ‘involved’ in politics until 2013. Though I was aware of the political leaders and the various parties, I did not follow them religiously (if I may use that word!); I was not clued into their every action and I was definitely not vocal about my political, and religious, choices.</p><p>In a way, Modi changed that. This book seeks to explain it, amongst several other things.</p><p>It also seeks to talk about the change in society, and politics, from Independence – the Nehruvian era, the rise, and assassination of Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi’s unprecedented parliamentary majority and the birth of the Mandal & Mandir politics, the rise of Lalu Prasad Yadav and Mulayam Singh Yadav, political instability at the Centre and the economic liberalization during the 1990s, the 2002 anti-Godhra riots in Gujarat, the various terrorist blasts all across India almost every other year, including the 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai, the gang rape in Delhi in 2012, the rise of the anti-corruption movement led by Anna Hazare, AAP forming the Govt. in Delhi, the rise of Modi to the Centre, etc.</p><p>The book also captures the double standards of the Left, the secular parties, the intellectuals, most of the mainstream media (MSM) and the online news portals [Rahul was/is a part of both] through various real-life examples and incidents. As I was not active into politics earlier, most of these were new, and shocking, to me. Now I am better able to relate to it, seeing it almost every day on MSM/SM. Rahul highlights how these people actually indulge in pretentious intellectual snobbery, with a condescending and patronizing attitude. Smokescreens of bigotry, jingoism and communalism are created, followed by muddling of facts, denials, shifting of goalposts and an orchestrated propaganda.</p><p>The book also talks about how social media has truly democratized the discourse in India [something I am truly grateful for – people have fallen off their pedestals and how!] – where people decide the tone and contours of a debate, without the direct involvement or censorship by the MSM. This has given rise to a whole generation of people who are now actively involved in politics [compared to people like me] and who are vocal about their choices & the reasons for the same.</p><p>Last, but definitely not the least, the book talks about Rahul’s journey from being offended at being called a Sanghi to actually getting comfortable with, and being proud of, being called one.</p><p>It spends a fair bit of space to discuss in detail about Modi – how he was relentlessly projected as a ‘controversial’ leader who won the 2002 elections riding on the wave of ‘hate’ (the narrative still seems familiar, right?), how he won three state elections with an absolute majority, how Modi started projecting himself as pro-development, how he understood how social media worked, etc. It also gives Modi a fair bit of credit in making people warm up to Hindutva/Hindu nationalism. Modi had started to impress many, especially the urban online-savvy educated class, many of whom had no special ideological affinity for the RSS or Hindutva.</p><p>I was able to identify with, and nod my head at, some of the incidents and examples in the book – the prejudices and biases against anything and everything connected to the word ‘Hindu’, the ‘liberal’ habit of linking every vice in the Indian society to some aspect of the Hindu culture and religion, the whitewashing of the atrocities committed by Muslim invaders, the deeply narrow definitions assigned to words like secularism, anti-Brahmin rhetoric, etc.</p><p>Rahul’s writing style is easy-to-read and the book is pretty much a page-turner in that sense. His satire and sarcasm comes across very well in the book. Also, he does not mince words while narrating or describing certain incidents. Though the book is a kind of an autobiography, I am sure many people will identify with some or the other incidents in it. The only thing I disagree with Rahul is his paranoia about the survival of Hindus. Hindus have, and will survive, forever. In fact, most Hindus, including me, have now started becoming very vocal about a lot of things.</p><p>Some of the sentences that stuck with me:</p><div style="text-align: left;">1. At the core of it, the secular state of India discriminates against Hindus by assuming that they can never be disadvantaged.</div><p>2. Every political party is not the same when it comes to the environment they end up creating by the mere virtue of being in power. They trigger some changes directly, and some indirectly, some as a driving force, some as a catalyst, some intended, some unintended.</p><p>3. You don’t need to publicize a treatise against Brahminism to push a person into cutting his janeu; you just need a good personal story. That is the power of storytelling.</p><p>4. When the ideological debates would start getting heated, it would invariably be the pro-Modi guy who had to step back and assuage the feelings of his liberal friend, who just couldn’t stop ranting about how fascism must be stopped.</p><p>5. The establishment is an entrenched bunch of people and institutions that systematically control the thoughts and beliefs of the masses. It is often achieved via control on the media and academics. Political power is transient, but the power that a real establishment enjoys is potent and lasting. [This one is my favourite!]</p><p>I would heartily recommend this book to anyone wanting to know what has changed in India, especially why do Hindus suddenly seem so vocal about their identity. I would also recommend this book to anyone wanting to get a sense of the history of India – how certain unconnected things are actually connected, which is not apparent to the common man. The book is a great read and I will definitely be rereading it often.</p>palsworldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03335844971003117045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8550147214974994776.post-482096632953223402019-04-21T22:54:00.002+05:302019-04-21T22:54:56.686+05:30Book Review: Lutyens' Maverick by Baijayant 'Jay' Panda<span style="font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">I have been following Baijayant ‘Jay’ Panda on Twitter for many years now. He’s one of the sharpest, most erudite, brilliant, humble and knowledgeable people around. Plus, he’s a voracious reader himself, often tweeting about the books he’s reading and the parts he’s found interesting.</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">This book is a collection of articles written by Panda over the last few years. It covers the topics of Parliament & Governance, Political Correctness, Economics, Foreign Policy, Law and Citizens & Society. Some of the of sub-topics include A Short History of EVMs, A Quota for Women, Taking Criminals out of Politics, Checks & Balances, The Yakub Memon Frenzy, Aadhaar & Data Security, Sabarimala & Triple Talaq and Hypocrisy on Free Speech.</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Panda’s articles are written in a no-holds barred and candid manner. It was a sheer pleasure to read the book and understand his views on the various topics.</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Some of the topics/quotes which I found interesting and would like to read up more on:</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">1. Our Parliament is still plagued by systemic gridlock between the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha.</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">2. Overcoming resistance to change is sometimes rooted more in fear and suspicion than in rational considerations.</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">3. But this isn’t the ‘80s any more, when bank computerization could be put off for more than a decade due to pressure from the unions.</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">4. Jawaharlal Nehru is reported to have told Jehangir Tata that he considered ‘profit’ to be a dirty word, even in the context of the public sector.</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">5. A quarter of a century ago, Rajiv Gandhi famously accused the notoriously leaky government machinery of gobbling up 85 per cent of the funds spent on poverty alleviation programmes, leaving only a paltry 15 per cent for the actual beneficiaries.</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">6. Though historical injustices can never be erased and elements of prejudice against some groups can still be seen, there are also many signs of empowerment, not the least of which is political clout.</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">7. The use of technologies like Aadhaar are revolutionizing the delivery of services far more efficiently. It could well be that massively ambitious sociopolitical goals may no longer require the kind of massive boondoggles they used to.</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">8. PM Modi has been seeking transformational change through mega persuasion campaigns instead of by legislation – for example, the exhortation of the ‘Swachh Bharat’ programme, rather than, say, emulating Singapore’s harsh punishments for littering.</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">9. The government has started penalizing non-performers, and in 2017, modernized bureaucrats’ appraisal system, including – for the first time – peers’ and subordinates’ feedback.</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">10. It should also not be surprising that dynastic politicians have been among the least enthusiastic users of SM in India.</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">11. The lack of meritocracy, evidenced by many bright younger Congressmen and women who have been held back for years, has taken a huge toll on its capabilities.</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">12. Any economy’s fundamental soundness will depend on regularly having to swallow bitter pills that will be unpopular, at least in the short term.</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">13. Too often we disparage the good because it is not perfect.</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">14. It needed PM Narendra Modi’s massive electoral successes, not just in the 2014 general election that gave him the numbers in the Lok Sabha, but also in subsequent state elections that, in turn, have been adding to his numbers in the Rajya Sabha, for the GST to become feasible.</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">15. For a country with the Ashoka Stambh as its national emblem, it has taken India far too long to recollect Kautilya’s mantra of statecraft: sama, dana, bheda, danda (conciliate, compensate, divide, fight).</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">16. Why are Hindu temples administered by the government when all other religious communities manage their own places of worship?</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">17. Instead of looking in the rear-view mirror at what has not worked in the past, we would be better served to benchmark what works in most of the world.</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">18. Finding the balance between an adherence to basic democratic principles and the pressing compulsions for simple, blunt solutions is one of the greatest challenges of modern democracies.</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">19. I remain an optimist, but one that believes that rather than just hoping for the best, we have to keep attempting to solve lingering problems.</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">20. It cannot be every individual’s right to impose his version of a religion on others who profess it. Thus, while he may practise religion as he pleases in private, in a religion’s place of worship, the rituals, subject to not harming anyone, must reflect the group consensus.</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">21. To keep insisting that terrorism has nothing to do with religion after every new jihadi atrocity is no longer tenable.</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">22. Why should we still have a feudal mindset that our ruling elite be treated differently from the average citizen?</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">23. Liberalization and economic growth have made available to the hoi polloi what earlier only the exalted could have.</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">24. In democracies, lasting solutions only emerge from bridging differences, even if that has to wait until power is gained through less temperate means.</span>palsworldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03335844971003117045noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8550147214974994776.post-38881901688039191242019-04-21T22:51:00.000+05:302019-04-21T22:51:08.391+05:30Book Review: Draupadi by Saiswaroopa Iyer<span style="font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">India is blessed to be the land of the Mahabharata. The beauty of it is that one can never get bored reading its various interpretations about its various characters. So, when I came to know about this book, I knew I had to read it.</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Draupadi, the daughter of Drupada, the princess of Panchala and the wife of the five Pandavas, is a fascinating character. And Saiswaroopa has been able to portray her as a true feminist in her book. She’s shown to be strong-willed, a fierce warrior, brave; at the same time, a loyal wife, a dutiful daughter-in-law and committed to the strange circumstances of her life.</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">The book takes us through the various stages in Draupadi’s life – from her luxurious stay in the father’s palace to her swayamvara and wedding to the five Pandavas; from their stay in the forest to their one-year stay under disguise; from her humiliation at the hands of the Kauravas to her need for revenge; and finally the war at Kurukshetra.</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">The book also touches about some of the other characters in the Mahabharata such as Uttara, Shikhandi, Dhrishtadyumna, Rukmini, and, of course, Krishna. Her relationship with Karna is also portrayed beautifully in the book.</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Saiswaroopa’s writing style is quite easy and free-flowing. I could almost visualize the happenings in the book as I was reading it. This is the first book of hers that I have read and I do look forward to reading her earlier books as well.</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Some of the quotes that have stayed with me:</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">• As an emperor, he could have initiated the change in the codes that undermine dharma. The delay in consolidating that victory has taken its toll.</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">• If only we had realized that dealing with victory was as crucial as dealing with threats!</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">• I value our history and the achievements of our ancestors. But more important is the effort to be worthy of our ancestors.</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">• The future generations will respect those who take action. The present has to be saved for a future to exist.</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">• When we lay claim to what is rightfully ours, we shall stop at nothing. We shall go to any lengths in undoing the damage done till now.</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">• Those who change loyalties with twisted arguments of dharma and then pretend to take the moral high ground aren’t worth fighting by our side.</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Do pick up this book if you are interested in the Mahabharata. It will give you a good perspective on Draupadi – a princess whose destiny was written so very different from others, but who nonetheless rose upto the challenge.</span>palsworldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03335844971003117045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8550147214974994776.post-37986296515944944102018-12-30T22:50:00.001+05:302018-12-30T22:50:29.212+05:30Book Review: The Library at Night by Alberto ManguelThe Library at Night is an ode to libraries worldwide - both old and new - and the author's personal library in a small village in Loire, France. The author finds great comfort in sitting in his own library at night and simply surfing through his books; "to assemble in one place our vicarious experience of the world." The book is also an ode to various books and its readers who grant books immortality - "Every reader exists to ensure for a certain book a modest immortality. Reading is, in this sense, a ritual of rebirth."<br />
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The book describes the library as myth, order, space, power, shadow, shape, chance, workshop, mind, island, survival, oblivion, imagination, identity and home. Some of the libraries described are Colegio Nacional de Buenos Aires, Le Presbytere, Bodleian Library, Centre Pompidou Library in Paris, Laurentian Library in Florence, etc. Some imaginary libraries are also mentioned such as the library of Captain Nemo, Mr. Casaubon's scholarly library in George Eliot's Middlemarch, murderous, monastic library in Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose, etc.<br />
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The author notes, "Old or new, the only sign I always try to rid my books of (usually with little success) is the price-sticker that malignant booksellers attach to the backs. These evil white scabs rip off with difficulty, leaving leprous wounds and traces of slime." While comparing paper books with electronic books, Manguel says "leafing through a book or roaming through shelves is an intimate part of the craft of reading and cannot be entirely replaced by scrolling down a screen, any more than real travel can be replaced by travelogues and 3-D gadgets." He describes the joy of a library thus "to be able to enter a place where books are seemingly numberless and available for the asking is a joy in itself."<br />
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Manguel also mentions how certain books were banned at certain points of time for various reasons - under the military regimes in Argentina, Uruguay and Chile in the 1970s, poems of Neruda and Nazim Hikmet (communists) and novels of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky (Russians) were considered suspicious. In March 2003, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger argued that the Harry Potter books "deeply distort Christianity in the soul, before it can grow properly." Dr. Joseph Goebbels, Hitler's propaganda minister, declared that the public burning of books by authors such as Heinrich Mann, Stefan Zweig, Freud, Zola, Proust, Gide, Helen Keller and H. G. Wells allowed "the soul of the German people again to express itself."<br />
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I loved reading about the history of libraries, which is, in essence, a history of the world till date. I also loved reading about the comparison between paper books and electronic books and how the two will continue to co-exist.<br />
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My only grudge - the book makes absolutely no mention of any library in India nor any Indian author. It's a little sad considering India has the most number of libraries [https://www.quora.com/Which-country-in-the-world-has-the-most-libraries-total-and-which-has-the-most-libraries-per-capita] and possibly the largest number of languages in which books are written in a single country. Truly, history that is never recorded is never narrated.<br />
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Some quotes that stayed with me:<br />
The illusion of immortality is created by technology.<br />
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Like Nature, libraries abhor a vacuum, and the problem of space is inherent in the very nature of any collection of books.<br />
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We scorn, wrote Tacitus in the first century, the blindness of those who believe that with an arrogant act even the memory of posterity can be extinguished.<br />
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The act of reading is now condescendingly accepted as a pastime, a slow pastime that lacks efficiency and does not contribute to the common good.<br />
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The Web is an instrument. It is not to blame for our superficial concern with the world in which we live.<br />
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We alone, and not our technologies, are responsible for our losses, and we alone are to blame when we deliberately choose oblivion over recollection. The petroglyphs of our common past are fading not because of the arrival of a new technology but because we are no longer moved to read them.<br />
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The stories that ultimately reach us are but the reports of the survivors.<br />
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There is something about sitting outside in the dark that seems conducive to unfettered conversations.<br />
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Alice's bewilderment or Sinbad's curiosity reflect again and again my own emotions.<br />
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Electronic text that requires no page can amicably accompany the page that requires no electricity.palsworldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03335844971003117045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8550147214974994776.post-31266554108140040662018-12-16T23:46:00.003+05:302018-12-16T23:46:43.388+05:30Book Review: The Man Who Saved India by Hindol SenguptaI will admit I picked up this book purely basis the interest it generated on Twitter – I had no clue that Sardar Patel was responsible for integrating 500+ princely states into the Indian Union at the time of Independence; I am not sure if it was taught in history at school. Soviet premier Nikolai Bulganin considered the feat bigger than Bismarck’s unification of Germany.<br />
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Hindol Sengupta must be commended for writing this book and enlightening people who do not know about Sardar Patel. The book is an ode to Mr. Patel – the stellar role he played in the Congress leading up to Independence, the various negotiations he undertook during the same and the sacrifices [both personal and professional] that he made in this journey.<br />
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Each of the chapter titles is a statement made by Sardar Patel, ranging from “Gandhi is a Mahatma. I am not.” to “My life’s work is about to be over…do not spoil it.”<br />
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The book brings out so many qualities of the Iron Man of India – his pragmatism, his leadership, diplomatic and political skills, his statesmanship, his indomitable spirit, his tenacity and his absolute lack of ego.<br />
Sardar Patel understood better than anyone else that democracy isn’t so much an everyday plebiscite but a daily judgment – the interplay of incessant retribution and reward.<br />
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The book brings out the contrast between Patel and Nehru beautifully – the former always had to give up the Congress President position in favour of the latter courtesy Mahatma Gandhi. Lord Mountbatten said, “Patel had his feet on the ground while Nehru had his in the clouds.”<br />
Nehru was a product of the benefits of class and wealth; Patel maintained a frugal lifestyle. Nehru believed that the ideals and virtues of socialism could be used in India to bring about a revolution; Patel was critical of the socialists. He wrote, “It is very easy to organize processions of mill workers flying red flags, but I would like to ask them what purpose is served by such hustle and bustle.” Nehru had to be sent to the villages of India to understand peasant life; Patel came from that real India and did not have to go or be sent anywhere to comprehend it. [Doesn’t it seem familiar to the current political scenario in India?]<br />
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As the plague broke out in Ahmedabad in 1917, Patel [who was then the Ahmedabad municipality president] worked almost round the clock with his volunteers to help the victims and their families. He advocated the use of India’s long coast [which is finally being done now, courtesy Nitin Gadkari]. Patel announced the Government would rebuild the Somnath Temple in Gujarat.<br />
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It’s a little painful to read how Nehru decided, against Patel’s wishes, to take the Kashmir issue to the United Nations Organization, based on Mountbatten’s advice. It begs to ask what if Nehru had adhered to Patel’s wishes. Or what if, Patel had become the first Prime Minister of India.<br />
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Along with Sardar Patel, the book gives a good glimpse into some other important figures of the Indian Independence movement, including Maulana Azad, Subhash Chandra Bose, Iqbal and Muhammad Ali Jinnah. It makes me now read a bit more about Jinnah [hoping Hindol will do the needful!] The book also gives a good overall view of history and geography during the entire period of time.<br />
<br />
It’s only fitting that our current Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi inaugurated the Patel statue on 31-Oct-2018, as a tribute to the Iron Man of India for creating history. After all, hadn’t Mr. Patel himself said, “Why not create history rather than waste time writing it?”<br />
<br />
The book is a must-read; I learned so many fascinating tidbits and aspects [cannot possibly post all these as part of the review!]. It will be a book I will definitely keep going back to in the future.palsworldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03335844971003117045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8550147214974994776.post-59976072780261878732018-11-11T16:52:00.000+05:302018-11-11T16:52:01.968+05:30Book Review: The Fadnavis Years by Aashish Chandorkar<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgasujiq-0Fsa6h9zKMHxpXN8ytlB68bjNcM7B4QIa-ZfC0GARC0Nbtl9Ah3unk0iUJ07jrnTdkthhaXeYLT_ML85_b2kV-m1j6nO3u8LQRXRSTAKGKnt6pIm5kKeqGEyCElfs2b_Gu1zk/s1600/DqzhtsNVsAA32ah.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="795" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgasujiq-0Fsa6h9zKMHxpXN8ytlB68bjNcM7B4QIa-ZfC0GARC0Nbtl9Ah3unk0iUJ07jrnTdkthhaXeYLT_ML85_b2kV-m1j6nO3u8LQRXRSTAKGKnt6pIm5kKeqGEyCElfs2b_Gu1zk/s320/DqzhtsNVsAA32ah.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I have been following Aashish Chandorkar on Twitter
(@c_aashish) for a while now. He is a prolific writer on public policy and
comes across as someone who is very well-read and extremely witty. So when he
announced this book, I knew I had to get my hands on it. I am a huge admirer of
and have been tracking & following Devendra Fadnavis’ work since the time
he took over as the Chief Minister (CM) of Maharashtra. To be fair, I had not
heard of Fadnavis before he became the CM; I am sure there would be many others
like me.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The Fadnavis Years is an absolute page-turner of a book; I finished
it in almost one sitting. There were many facets of the CM that I came to know
about only while reading the book. Aashish’s writing style is easy-to-read,
with specific data points thrown in (for the numerically-inclined) coupled with
his very witty/sarcastic way of putting across things. This makes the book a
great biographical read about the second youngest CM of Maharashtra.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The book takes us through the period from the swearing-in of
Fadnavis to the various problems which awaited him to how he went about solving
them, equipped with technology, quick decision-making, delegation of powers and
monitoring progress via a core group of people known as the ‘War Room’. It ends
with a few suggestions on what the CM needs to focus on as we approach the 2019
elections!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Fadnavis took oath as the CM of Maharashtra on 31-Oct-2014 at
the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai and plunged head-long into the political
quagmire that awaited him. Today, he is the longest serving non-Congress CM of
the state. As is stated in the book, “the brave, positive and pro-merit move by
Modi and Shah” of appointing Fadnavis seems to have paid off.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span> </div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">What I did not know and learned from the book was that
Fadnavis was a three-time Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA). In the 2014
State Elections, the BJP crossed the magic figure of 100 seats for the first
time since 1990. This was largely due to the efforts of Fadnavis.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span> </div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Some of the key initiatives launched/fast-tracked by the CM
which the book talks about are: Aaple Sarkar portal, Mumbai Metro, Mumbai Trans
Harbour Link, Navi Mumbai airport, Coastal Road, Mumbai-Nagpur Expressway
(Samruddhi Corridor), PMRDA, Pune Metro, Pune Ring Road and the Jalyukt Shivar
Abhiyan. I agree with the author when he says “For the first time in many decades,
Maharashtra is witnessing such huge and focused investments in changing the
urban landscape.” In Mumbai, the rapid pace at which the Metro work is being
done is there for all to see.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The Jalyukt Shivar Abhiyan has been covered in the media
extensively and can be safely said to be Fadnavis’ biggest contribution/legacy.
Its success is apparent from the drop in the number of tankers which were
deployed in the drought-prone regions from 2016 to 2018. Also, “creating a mass
movement out of a government program has been the biggest success of Fadnavis.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The book also details the investment opportunities Fadnavis brought
to the state through his consistent and persistent discussions and the
infrastructure provided to industries, including MIHAN SEZ, Aurangabad
Industrial City, Amravati Apparel Park, etc.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The book delves into how the politics in Maharashtra has
always been intricately linked with control of the agricultural co-operative bodies
(district co-operative banks, APMCs and agricultural commodity processing co-operatives,
especially in the sugar belt districts), and how Fadnavis went about trying to
delink the control one-by-one.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The author gives us a fair sense of the problems/difficulties
the CM had to face like the caste protests, farm loan waiver demands, jobs’
reservation stirs, Koregaon Bhima protests, farmers’ long march, etc. According
to the author, most the issues stemmed from the fact that “accepting personal
irrelevance is never easy in politics”. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Throughout the book, Aashish via several examples, highlights
Fadnavis’ vision, foresight, empathy, probity and sense of ownership. He attributes
the CM’s success to his gift of the gab, a keen eye for issues of governance and
the fact that he is a very social media savvy politician. “The middle class was
beginning to like their Chief Minister, who was seen as hardworking in the face
of poor odds of succeeding.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Some of the author’s statements in the book that I really liked:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">It
was the straw which broke the tiger’s back (referring to the effect of the BJP
win in Mumbai on the Shiv Sena).</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Voter
expectations often do not wait for an ideal execution environment.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">As
is the wont with the infrastructure projects of Pune, the plan was put on the
backburner with deft precision almost immediately.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">In
the presumed-rational world of policy-making, responses to stimuli can be
modelled. The control variables behave obediently in social science
experiments, while the independent variables determine the course of dependent
ones. Real life, however, does not always follow these predictive ones.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The
wins were pyrrhic, the losses ignoble.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">It
is never easy to manage the individuals who one surpasses to scale a peak, and
much more difficult to make them work productively.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Merit
gets critically assessed every day in politics, surnames stay permanent.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Hope
is not a strategy, certainly not in politics.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I would heartily recommend the book to anyone wanting to know
more about Devendra Fadnavis’ life. It is also a good book for one wanting to
know more about politics in Maharashtra. I have one complaint though – I wished
the author would have covered more about Fadnavis’ life as an MLA and mayor of
Nagpur, which could have given a better background to his ascendancy to the CM
position. Maybe he will cover it in his next book, when Fadnavis takes over as
the CM of Maharashtra for the second time towards the end of next year!</span></span>palsworldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03335844971003117045noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8550147214974994776.post-9204549223115745672018-08-15T20:44:00.002+05:302018-08-15T20:44:51.724+05:30Book Review: The Land of the Wilted Rose<a data-ved="2ahUKEwiEpcW4rO_cAhXLpY8KHS4OBjwQjRx6BAgBEAU" href="https://www.amazon.in/Land-Wilted-Rose-Anand-Ranganathan/dp/8129119218" id="irc_mil" jsaction="mousedown:irc.rl;keydown:irc.rlk;irc.il;" style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor;"><img alt="Image result for the land of the wilted" height="247" id="irc_mi" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/317zfSEha0L._BO1,204,203,200_.jpg" style="margin-top: 56px;" width="182" /></a><br />
<br />
Those who follow the author, Anand Ranganathan, on Twitter know he's one of the smartest and wittiest persons around. His erudite views on almost any topic under the sun are impressive. And he's a scientist!<br /><br />I knew absolutely nothing about this book when I picked it up. The blurb is interesting - it mentions the Indian empire and the small colony of England. The book reimagines colonialism as Indians having taken over England and a few other European countries. It elaborates the insecurities 'white men' go through when they come across 'brown men'; something people in India and other colonies can identify with, I reckon.<br /><br />The book starts off a little slowly but then it really picks up pace as it takes us through the arrival of a 17-year-old Maharaja in London and how the 'white men' prepare for it. There are some super descriptions of the various outfits worn by the Indians including Kanjivaram silk saris and dhotis and the delicious food including kakori kababs and bhindi nayantara to be washed down with rasams and lassis. It then tells us how Jack Riley, the mayor of Dover, is punished by being posted as the assistant to the district magistrate of Dhobipur, Uttar Pradesh.<br /><br />Part 2 of the book has some lovely and vivid descriptions of Mumba Devi, Imperial India's largest city and the world's busiest harbour. Jack is impressed at the Mumba Central station whose 'large marble tiles had a few intonations from the Vedas'. As Jack takes the train to Delhi, the capital of the world, he thought the whole landscape seemed 'so well lit for the benefit of the train passengers so that thy could stand open mouthed and marvel at the splendour of the largest metropolis in the world'.<br /><br />Though the blurb calls it an allegorical work, a black comedy, I would call it an utopian work - a what-if kind of book which lays before us a mirror image of the British colonialism especially over India. I have several questions about how could we let the British rule over us; this book only aggravates them. My only grouse - the book ends quite abruptly. My only hope - it's Book 1 of The White Mahatma quartet, so maybe the other three books will be published soon.<br /><br />Some quotes/sentences/references that stayed with me:<br />Evening winds had brushed past a thousand chimes at a temple entrance.<br />The cruel fate, as happens more often that not, did intervene.<br />We forever crave for that thrill, that kick that we get when we admire something for the first time.<br />And all it took was a century and a half of Indian rule.<br />Thank the mighty lord Jesus Christ their saviour, and those few who had been lured into conversion, Bhagwaan Sri Krishna.<br />They were just empty barren lands inhabited by savage people who did not know the difference between a stone and a sculpture.<br /><br />Last but not the least there's a passing reference to Karna (from the Mahabharata). I am fascinated with Karna for a very long time and his mention was just the icing on the cake.<br /><br />Read this book to get a sense of the view from the other side. I highly recommend it.palsworldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03335844971003117045noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8550147214974994776.post-27119554716407642132016-12-27T23:39:00.002+05:302016-12-27T23:43:00.897+05:30Book Review: One Indian Girl<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
It
is a typical Chetan Bhagat novel – from the viewpoint of a female
protagonist. I frankly never understood why people hate Bhagat so
much. I felt this book was a light read with a few 'feminist'
concepts discussed – career-oriented women, career vs. motherhood,
etc. It takes you through NYC, Hong Kong & London with a fair bit
of Goa thrown in. It does seem like a movie script but I still felt
it is better than most movies these days. This book apparently broke
all pre-booking records on Amazon thus reaffirming Bhagat's
popularity!</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
[<a href="http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/magazines/panache/chetan-bhagats-latest-book-one-indian-girl-breaks-pre-order-record-on-amazon/articleshow/53784780.cms">http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/magazines/panache/chetan-bhagats-latest-book-one-indian-girl-breaks-pre-order-record-on-amazon/articleshow/53784780.cms</a>]</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The
book's blurb states, “Hi, I am Radhika Mehta and I am getting
married this week. I work at Goldman Sachs, an investment bank. Thank
you for reading my story. However, let me warn you. You may not like
me too much. One, I make a lot of money. Two, I have an opinion on
everything. Three, I have had a boyfriend before. Okay, maybe two.
Now if I was a guy, you would be okay with all of this. But since I
am a girl, these three things don't really make me too likeable, do
they?”</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
It's
a story about Radhika and her professional & personal life. She's
an ambitious woman who will not stop anything to advance in her
career and she's also willing to commit herself to somebody &
give the relationship her all. The book is a fast-paced, breezy read
with quite a few interesting food for thought. Sample this: Radhika's
character thinks to herself, “Why do we need our men to praise and
validate us in order for us to feel accomplished?” That's quite
true, right? By the way, Radhika keeps talking to herself in her mind
throughout the book [I guess so do most of us].</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Some
thoughts that stuck with me while reading the book – she says
sorry to a guy for 'snapping' at him – I wonder how many men would
say sorry to a woman for 'snapping'? That's an intrinsically feminine
thing, I guess. The book also deals with women's insecurities and
asks if women can take compliments. It also talks about a world that
has been designed by men where women cannot even rejig office
timings, as they want to fly while also have a nest at the same time.</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Bhagat
also highlights how men mostly seem to have the upper hand in a
relationship; when a woman exerts authority/control, she's made to
feel guilty & bad about it. Bhagat is qualified to write about
women's careers considering he gave up a full-time job more than 10
years ago and is a proud house-husband taking care of his twin sons
while his wife works full-time.</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
There
are a whole lot of restaurants that feature in the book including in
NYC Harry's Cafe & Steak, Nerai, Whiskey Blue and Dishoom in
London.</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I
am rating this book 3 out of 5 – it's not one of Bhagat's better
books (like Five Point Someone or Two States) but it's definitely not
as bad as his critics are making it out to be.</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I
was given a review copy of this book by Rupa Publications in exchange
for an honest review.</div>
palsworldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03335844971003117045noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8550147214974994776.post-9724273403525497252016-12-27T23:18:00.000+05:302016-12-27T23:44:26.175+05:30Book Review: My Gita<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I have been a big fan of
Devdutt Pattanaik's writing and so when My Gita was published, I
naturally had to read it. However, the book kind of disappointed me.</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The book's blurb states,
“In My Gita, acclaimed mythologist Devdutt Pattanaik demystifies
the Bhagavad Gita for the contemporary reader. His unique approach –
thematic rather than verse-by-verse – makes the ancient treatise
eminently accessible, combined as it is with his trademark
illustrations and simple diagrams. In a world that seems spellbound
by argument over dialogue, vi-vaad over sam-vaad, Devdutt highlights
how Krishna nudges Arjuna <u><b>to understand rather than judge his
relationships</b></u>. This becomes relevant today when we are
increasingly indulging and isolating the self (self-improvement,
self-actualization, self-realization – even selfies!) We forget
that we live in an ecosystem of others, where we can nourish each
other with food, love and meaning, even when we fight. So let <i>My</i>
Gita inform <i>your</i> Gita.” [The highlight is my emphasis].</div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The book is divided into
18 chapters with a brief history
and introduction of The Gita. I enjoyed reading the introduction more
than I did the actual chapters. This talks about the approaches to
Hindu history through eight phases – Indus, Vedic, Upanishadic,
Buddhist, Puranic, Bhakti, Orientalist and Modern. After this, it
mentions the various readings and interpretations of The Gita wherein
the first wave involved Sanskrit bhasyas by Vedanta scholars. The
second wave involved retellings in regional languages – Devdutt
mentions the Gyaneshwara here (which was in the 13<sup>th</sup>
century) as also Dasopant Digambara and Tukaram (in the 17<sup>th</sup>
century). The third wave was translations by Europeans, the fourth
wave involved retranslations by Indian nationalists. This was
followed by the fifth wave which involved reframing following the end
of the two World Wars.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I
loved the bits about Karna (I have been besotted with him since The
Palace Of Illusions). Karna's circumstances made him an outsider
though technically he was an insider. While narrating Karna's story
about previous lives, Devdutt chooses to remind us that our story is
part of a grand jigsaw puzzle, we are part of a larger narrative.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Throughout
each of the chapters, there are several verses mentioned in a
paraphrased form which are then elaborated upon by the author. Some
of them make interesting reading, some, I felt, were too stretched
and made no sense to the theme of the book. Each chapter ends with a
small gist. There
are, of course, several illustrations throughout the book which seek
to take the explanation forward.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The
book ends with yet another discourse by Krishna after the conclusion
of the Bhagavad Gita. Devdutt says that the yearning for perfection
stems from the desire to control and organize the world to our taste,
to create a cocoon where everything makes sense to us. The Gita does
not aspire for perfection.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
To
sum up, the book does give an insight into Krishna's discourse to
Arjuna before the war. But it also digresses a bit into unrelated
topics. I did not enjoy it as much as I enjoyed Jaya (a retelling of
the Mahabharata). I am rating it 3 out of 5.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I
was given a review copy of this book by Rupa Publications in exchange
for an honest review.</div>
palsworldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03335844971003117045noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8550147214974994776.post-89023022117964928282016-06-13T20:48:00.000+05:302016-06-13T20:48:10.141+05:30Book Review: I Made a Booboo by Shivangi Sharma<div dir="ltr" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13.696px;">
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: 13.696px;">Shivangi Sharma's debut book is a hilarious and first-person account of the birth of her child. The book's blurb reads: “Once upon a time there was a woman who used to sleep eight hours a day and laze around on weekends. Her clothes were mostly free of gross body fluids and her bag rarely had biscuit crumbs. Then she decided to have a baby. With books and the internet for friends – and a husband who answered commonsensically – she thought she had it all sorted. But then her baby arrived, and turned everything upside down! The baby made it his mission to present a new surprise every day. Mommy, after fighting hours of helplessness, came to learn that parenting was a lost battle. There was only one way to survive – keep calm, laugh on and write when the baby dozes. The result: I made a Booboo, a rollicking account of the trials, tribulations and occasional triumphs of a first-time mom. P.S: Everyone did live happily ever after (albeit only when the baby willed so).”</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The book's chapter titles are funny ranging from “Stork Brings the Baby. Well, Not Exactly” to “Breakfast (and Lunch and Dinner) of Champions” and “His Majesty – the Invincible, the Unrestricted, the Toddler”.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Shivangi starts off by narrating her life before the baby – like any other normal couple's is. But when they learn about the imminent arrival of their first child, their life turns upside now – more the mother's as she adjusts with both the physical and the mental aspects. Shivangi's writing style is matter-of-fact and she doesn't hesitate from discussing even the most basic to the most gross stuff!</div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The book takes us through her pregnancy to her delivery (albeit with a few false alarms thrown in) and her adjusting to an infant in the house. Anybody who's ever had a baby or been in a house where there's a child can easily identify with most of the points stated in the book.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Shivangi uses dry wit and humour to narrate the trials and tribulations associated with raising a child. Amidst that, she also finds spirituality. As she writes about her son, “He is totally at peace with his existence – not wanting to be at some other place or in some other time. He holds no grudges against anyone. He lives life to the fullest, eats to his heart's content and does what he likes. “ As she points out, there's immense joy that a child finds in the simplest of things. And, as she reminds us, “We are all born like that but then we forget it over the years as we run fast to grow up and reach our respective finishing lines.”</div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I loved reading the book for the matter-of-fact way in which Shivangi has written without any fancy words or proferring any unwanted advice. I would give this book 3/5.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<u><b>Note:</b></u> I was given a review copy of this book by Rupa Publications. Needless to say, the review is independent of the same.</div>
</div>
palsworldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03335844971003117045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8550147214974994776.post-90826606882114319222015-12-24T15:58:00.002+05:302015-12-24T15:58:36.876+05:30My Year 2015 in Books!<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, it's been a really long time that I have updated my blog. I guess I have been too busy reading books to actually take time out and review them. Not that, that's any excuse. So, one of my 2016 New Year Resolutions is definitely to blog more.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am a regular visitor on Goodreads and, in addition to using it to track the books I have read, also use it to peruse books that interest me, see what others are reading, go through quotes, read up on an author's entire works till date, etc. I am really proud of the fact that I was able to read 50 books this year; the number could obviously have been way higher but guess I will just read more books in 2016 :)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One of the features I really like about this site is the analytics it does. The link given below will give you all the details about the books I have read in 2015 including the total number of pages I have read and the shortest/longest books.</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Great Gatsby was one of the most popular books I read (2 million people </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">have</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> read </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">it </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">apparently</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">!) My average rating for 2015 was 3.7.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To know which books I read this year, go here: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/user/year_in_books/2015/12430250">https://www.goodreads.com/user/year_in_books/2015/12430250</a></span>palsworldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03335844971003117045noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8550147214974994776.post-3039240990400516202015-09-26T20:18:00.003+05:302015-09-26T20:19:30.084+05:30Book Review: The Power Of Habit by Charles Duhigg<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<img src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41HdGJlAL0L._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg" /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">In
The Power Of Habit – Why we do what we do and how to <i>change</i>
– author Charles Duhigg takes us into the thrilling and surprising
world of the scientific study of habits. The book is an eye-opener
into how habits change lives both of individuals and corporates.
Though all of us know how difficult it is to form good habits and get
rid of bad habits, this book made for some very interesting reading.
A few examples of what I found fascinating throughout the book
follow.</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">In
one example of a man who had lost parts of his memory, one of the
doctors makes a beautiful comment, “I saw how rich life can be even
if you can't remember it. The brain has this amazing ability to find
happiness even when the memories of it are gone.”</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
“<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Keystone
habits” matter more than others in remaking businesses and lives.
They can influence how people work, eat, play, live, spend and
communicate. Keystone habits start a process that, over time,
transforms everything. While discussing these habits, the book talks
about how they help explain how Michael Phelps became an Olympic
champion and how Alcoa became one of the best performing stocks in
the Dow Jones index, while also becoming one of the safest places on
earth.</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Duhigg
states how routines are habits which we do without thinking. Habits
create cultures where new values become ingrained. Small wins help
create widespread changes, for example, keeping a food journal helps
monitor one's diet leading to better health.</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The
book also highlights the power of social peer pressure in leading to
worldwide movements. Most movements happen because of strong ties of
friendship and weak ties of peer pressure giving protestors a new
sense of self identities. A wonderful example is the protests against the race issues in the USA.</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Another
piece of discussion that I found interesting was the one on
sleepwalking. Mark Mahowald, a professor of neurology at the
University of Minnesota and a pioneer in understanding sleep
behaviours says, “Sleepwalking is a reminder that wake and sleep
are not mutually exclusive.” There's also an interesting study
conducted by a cognitive neuroscientist Reza Habib where he was
particularly interested in looking at the brain systems involved in
habits and addictions.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">There's
a fascinating piece of information on William James whose 1892 quote,
“All our life, so far as it has definite form, is but a mass of
habits.” features in the prologue. James spent 12 months believing
he had control over himself and his destiny, that he could become
better, that he had the free will to change. He later wrote that the
will to believe is the most important ingredient in creating belief
in change. And that one of the most important methods for creating
that belief was habits.</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Duhigg
offers a four-stage plan to form or reshape habits. Identify the
routine, Experiment with rewards, Isolate the cue and Have a plan. As
the author says, Once you know a habit exists, you have the
responsibility to change it.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I
hope now that I have read the book I will be able to at least change
a few of my habits and, thus, change my life as many of the people
mentioned in the book have done.</span></div>
palsworldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03335844971003117045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8550147214974994776.post-19634817481779653792015-08-22T22:10:00.001+05:302015-08-22T22:10:10.959+05:30My most read Top Ten AuthorsIt's a shame I have neglected this blog for so long. However, I hope to change that, starting today.<br />
<br />
This post is inspired by <a href="https://adventuresofatraveller.wordpress.com/2015/08/21/the-top-ten-authors-ive-read-most-books-from/">https://adventuresofatraveller.wordpress.com/2015/08/21/the-top-ten-authors-ive-read-most-books-from/</a><br />
<br />
My most read Top Ten Authors are:<br />
<br />
1. Paulo Coelho (6 books read) - He is one of my favourite authors after all. Though some people find him vague and a little too preachy, I think his books and stories are wonderful. And The Alchemist remains my go-to book for most situations.<br />
<br />
2. Six authors are tied at place 2 with 4 books each - Dale Carnegie (the original self-help guru), Preeti Shenoy (one of the top selling woman authors in India), Chetan Bhagat (isn't his name itself enough), Ravi Subramanian (the John Grisham of banking), Jane Austen (bless her for giving us Mr. Darcy) and Malcolm Gladwell (think without thinking).<br />
<br />
3. Eight authors are tied at place 3 with 3 books each - Mitch Albom, Khaled Hosseini, Haruki Murakami, Amitav Ghosh, Vikram Seth, Ruskin Bond, Jack Canfield and Erich Segal.<br />
<br />
As is obvious, there are no clear favourites when it comes to my most read authors - I basically seem to be reading anybody and everybody :)<br />
<br />
But considering the fact that I am besotted with Vikram Seth (or more specifically, A Suitable Boy), maybe, just maybe, I need to push him to the top of this list. Followed by Haruki Murakami perhaps? :)palsworldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03335844971003117045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8550147214974994776.post-68118676820920890912015-03-12T21:04:00.000+05:302015-03-12T21:04:59.058+05:30The Rang De Basanti Album<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
When it released in
January-2006, Rang De Basanti (RDB) became a cult movie almost
overnight. Everybody, including me, was simply blown away by it. It
had a very unique storyline, brought alive on screen amazingly well
by all the leading and supporting actors. In my opinion, the music of
the movie composed by A. R. Rahman had a huge role to play in its
success. I am fascinated and love each of the songs for different
reasons elaborated below.</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The title song – Rang
De Basanti – is a typical Punjabi song sung by Daler Mehndi &
K. S. Chithra. I bet nobody can avoid tapping their feet while
listening to this song. Both the lyrics and the music have a very
North Indian feel to it.</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-taiSiE4wnI">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-taiSiE4wnI</a></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The song Paathshaala
turned out to be a total rebellious college song. Prasoon Joshi's
youthful lyrics only added to its charm. Sample this: “Yaaron Ki
Equation Hain Love Multiplication Hain”. It is very easy to time
travel back to your college days while humming this song. It was shot
at Nahargarh Fort in Jaipur.</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4s8D3ASKMg">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4s8D3ASKMg</a></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
When Madhavan proposes to
Soha Ali Khan, Naresh Iyer chooses to croon the romantic and slow
number Tu Bin Bataayein. It was shot in a spectacular location called
Mughal Sarai, located about 20 kilometres from NH-1
[<a href="http://www.wherewasitshot.com/2010/05/26/mughal-sarai-doraha/">http://www.wherewasitshot.com/2010/05/26/mughal-sarai-doraha/</a>].
I hope to visit it someday.</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObJ3vfAhchA">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObJ3vfAhchA</a></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
A. R. Rahman considers
Luka Chuppi to be a very special song for him because it was the
first time he had an opportunity to sing with Lata Mangeshkar. It
comes at a very poignant moment in the movie; when a mother has to
bear with the loss of her young son in a plane accident. Listen to it
and you will find it difficult to hold your tears.</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5qhBM3KJY8">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5qhBM3KJY8</a></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Khoon Chala sung by Mohit
Chauhan is his first song with A. R. Rahman. It portrayed the angst
of a civil society rising against the injustice faced by it quite
well. Of course, I could be biased since I am such a huge fan of
Mohit Chauhan!</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91XUMgLkub4">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91XUMgLkub4</a></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
And last, but definitely
not the least, is Rubaroo sung by Naresh Iyer and A. R. Rahman. This
song won the National Award for Best Male Playback for Naresh Iyer.
The song comes at the fag end of the movie when the protagonists have
confessed what they have done and heave a big sigh of relief. The
song captures their friendship and their commitment to the cause
quite beautifully.</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CO7zAHgeL4">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CO7zAHgeL4</a></div>
palsworldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03335844971003117045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8550147214974994776.post-61226350215988196032015-03-07T15:00:00.003+05:302015-04-15T21:17:46.093+05:30Book Review: Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<img src="http://img5a.flixcart.com/image/book/8/2/2/norwegian-wood-400x400-imaddgy8csqwdyqs.jpeg" /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><span style="color: black;">This
is my first ever Murakami book. I was told that this is unlike any of
his other books in that, it is only a 'simple love story'. But, what
a love story it turned out to be! It was definitely not simple and
certainly not predictable.</span></span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The
book's title comes from a song by Beatles
(<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lY5i4-rWh44">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lY5i4-rWh44</a>).
Before I picked up this book, I was not aware that there was such a
song by the band. When the protagonist of the book, Toru Watanabe
hears this song, he is transported back to his college days and his
first love Naoko who considers this her favourite song. I identify
with this sentiment; I am often reminded of someone or the other
whenever I hear a particular song that I associate with them. The
book is set mostly in 1969 Tokyo when Toru and his girlfriend Naoko
attend University.</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
It
is a story that every person who has ever gone to college will
identify with – the conflict of emotions you go through, the
dislike for a particular course you do not want to study, the tragedy
of trying to fit in with your friends, university politics, and, of
course, falling in love and trying to make sense of it. And Toru is
no different. In the course of the book, he also meets the vivacious
and extroverted Midori. It's a struggle for Toru who feels that he
now has to choose between either of the two girls.</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><span style="color: black;">Murakami
is a master storyteller and, for me, the book was an absolute
page-turner. However, as much as I enjoyed reading about the main
plot of the story (featuring the three protagonists), I also loved
reading about Tokyo and its streets and the trains and the
restaurants Toru and Midori frequented. Murakami was able to make me
feel as if I was right there in the middle of Tokyo observing the
events as they took place.</span></span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><span style="color: black;">Also,
as much as the book is a love story, it is also a story about dear
friendships. Because without a dear friendship, can there really be
love? And while one may eventually stop loving somebody, the
friendship would still remain.</span></span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><span style="color: black;">I
loved how the book is set mainly in 1969; Woodstock happened the same
year (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodstock">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodstock</a>)
and one of my most favourite songs ever also happens to talk about
the 'Summer of 69' (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9f06QZCVUHg">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9f06QZCVUHg</a>).</span></span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><span style="color: black;">It
is very easy to love Toru who is as clueless as any other teenager on
the cusp of adulthood. But he is sincere and caring and committed and
quite serious when it comes to relationships. As Midori says
somewhere in the book when she is telling Toru why she loves him, "You
know the English subjunctive, you understand trigonometry, you can
read Marx, and you don't know the answer to something as simple as
that?"</span></span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><span style="color: black;">Toru
is a bibliophile; some of the books he mentions in Norwegian Wood
include John Updike's The Centaur, F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great
Gatsby, Raymond Chandler, Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain, Karl
Marx's Das Kapital, William Faulkner's Light in August and Hermann
Hesse's Beneath The Wheel.</span></span></span></div>
<br />
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><span style="color: black;">I
really enjoyed this book though I did feel equal parts depressed and
equal parts angry in the course of reading it. But, I guess, if any
book does that to you, then it is a well-written one. Go read it if
you want to experience love and heartbreak Murakami-style; you will
not be disappointed.</span></span></span></div>
palsworldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03335844971003117045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8550147214974994776.post-52476799062874551142015-03-01T13:29:00.001+05:302015-03-01T13:32:23.846+05:30Book Review: The Billionaire's Apprentice by Anita Raghavan<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<img alt="Image result for the billionaire's apprentice" src="data:image/jpeg;base64,/9j/4AAQSkZJRgABAQAAAQABAAD/2wCEAAkGBxQTEhUUExQWFhUXFxwVGBcXFxkYHBoYGBwcGBccGBcYHCggGBwlHBUUITEhJSksLi4uFx8zODMsNygtLisBCgoKDg0OGxAQGy8kHyQsLSwsLSwsLCwsLCwsLywsNCwsLCw0LCwsLCwsLCwsLCwsLCwsLCwsLCwsLCwsLCwsLP/AABEIARMAtwMBIgACEQEDEQH/xAAbAAACAwEBAQAAAAAAAAAAAAADBAACBQEGB//EAEIQAAIBAgQDBQUHAQYFBQEAAAECEQADBBIhMQVBURMiYXGBBjKRobEUI0JSwdHw4RUzYnJz8SR0gpKyNISiwsMl/8QAGQEAAwEBAQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAQIDBAAF/8QALREAAgIBAwIEBgMBAQEAAAAAAAECESEDEjFBURMiMnEEYYGhwfCx0eGRMxT/2gAMAwEAAhEDEQA/AEQNtBXY8BXB6Ve1aLGFEmDoPASfkDXlUeaVjwFSPAVazaLGFEmCYA5ASfkKNhMMW70SoYAnxMkf+JrnjJzY1w2xlBeBJ0H89KH9idtQIG+vOtxcCxIWPwhgNBodtz41bF2Wt+8I9Ry8tq856mpbkl/hn3y5PM3sMw3Wgx4CvR3UIMMIPQ+Otds4I3JCqDAk7DTbn51WPxEuGsjLUPOqY2iuhvAVrYnhQUwQVPSkMZgWtxOxEjTkdqtHUjJ/MdSTO9opXvAdKWuW42Ajka0cFwm8yhgmhEgEgFh1UHU+cUobJKuw91SuY9C0x9DTRg4sKwLkeAqR4DeiXLLKFYgANqp6gGD86JbwLmNIDQwJ5qTEjrqD8Kd4VsN1yARJOgpyzwxjBMAfzlT+DwxW4beSHWS3MwBOvTrRUt5u+JgdNu9tPzrLq6006SonLUYieGLHPbp/WoeFrG8abx+k1ohNM3IaE+J2+hpfE4ZtDtmEjXcAxUY6mp3EU5dxJ+GyO7uNCD+/rST2yDBEGa1QxGhMn6jmKeXhTXkkZNWyrmYKc0DQT5j41bT1J3TyPGTuuTzQHgN6gXwp63wxyWE2lKsV77quo0MZt9RSuIslGKMAGUlSN9RvWuupbJS2NRoKlRNxttUpJLIjZRTt+1bfASLate7REeRbtlp6hrmign3YH/UaxAdOddBq6VDHoLAW1i2a24ym3cuW2EfitsRvzDaQegqLjbRsO6Qrs6F7YGkgMMyf4TI05Ga89TGC98Tt+woT9LA3g9Rj7y5rckT2VvnzyijYhEfFPJGQMWY8soGvn0ryGIuBmJBO9MYJnMxqBWV6VLd87/f+kttKz0vEyHVbmdWaSrZZ23TQgHaR6CqcNyxdDGAbcSBJ95dhzrywxTbgn5U5hnc/iB8NKE9JqW/AHGsnosVaDPbQHuBQA8jVdSSekSdPCh8fy3LRIZGKH3RP92fdGo1gjl1rOVqW4gDlkTp/tSQfmquf1Cxlk02wq3b/AG3vWmVcpW4idmNAVYNqMonSNaSsGyLWKDSUz24yEAkBnggkajasZrmYa/SqzpzrcubNBs462l0YVLZKqQy94glZuGSxEDqa1uIshtMVuIezbugSItkBQO8BMGG0/Ma8hbaDOuhBo129IG+8/wA+FLNXisCvOD0OIxo7ANP3zgWmjfKuubxlQi/Gj4G5bVEsm8i9opLqZJlv7qCBAiBv1NeasTcbXlWrYw6LsKjOah6lbElNR5L4O7ct2r2ZQ03EDIdmSHzD4xqPChcbw/ds9kSVCHf3hLloPiJ3o9dFS/8AplVUL4r7Hng+pzEg6eh8q9Bg8XFm0dC32g5eQLBbZAPrSGPweaWG/wBYoOHxtsWxbu22YC4XBV8vvBVIIyn8taIKOoisGpIe9obDCHNhbcvq4YtLGSVgsQOZ9KQ4/wD+pvf6j/Wu4XHW1ttba2zKbguCHykQCoBOUzoaWx2K7S69yIzszRvEmYq9Y/f6KtqgKHUa1KibipU5RJtlR61PjXAP5NT+b1faE6fWn+E25ZiQYA+dZ/p861eG91Cep/pUtZeUTUflK9jLHKpHLXan7dsKIG1IYjHnkKicR27unWoS05yRJqTRbFYMTzAriYGNmIPXr503mB0rgULtS7pVQN74JaU86u4kEVzNVXOlJtyKY72o69KowjTXrWhcww3aSd4FAuRBU28sLIM9K2KVmhSsVY+dRmJqpH8mr2rckDx61ShzU4WsLPU08DSgYKB9KA3ETyXXxrDLTc3aMzTk7NOuzWZYx86Ea1TGXGmNR5Ggvh3dMHhu6NQnxpHG4QNqND9aDaTrqehYz8qatHwj1plDY7Qa28GQFPjuRFWWydN6dOGGcHaZ58zQ7kjQ768+laN18Ft98CgQyN6lM24JqUWznMRHpUPpXAdtqk+VaaKHfhTyn7pdtz9TSE05bfuAaUk42JMiYhQIjzprD4hDA09azwF/EfhRkw6Ns1LKERZJUabcjXWpPCyrFSZ6Gms1QcKItUdmoDVGahXL2UTXbLOqy2LVpVl5frQ+IOAvKSI/ertjEiZ9BWZiL5Yzp4CqQ026seEWyG3ttrFOWEUkFBsSDPlSOaYGnKtDDIV00jnVJrA88IMUJ2iKD2e2i+M94/E01bMUQRUMojuoXt2RIJiZ0gR/vTF60GkEbiKC+IUE6jT+fpXHxyxM12yTyd5mEt2IJiNaLSX2qIP4DHoaazzQlB9QST6g7lsNuOc0DE2ZKyeUE/CmSaBdgxygEU0UxotgUtqp61KsrjlUotMLMwGpPjXBR3wxCBp9OdbaNDaAzTODYTB86Bbtk7A02MKFEsSSY9JpZJCSa4Ge5Og9aKttdxWbjLBQ6EkUNb7jmaTw74J7LVpmrcXXxoZJ60h9pMeNWs3GJ513hnKDQ094Cg4g6AnbkOtdtWddZrvEF7oPj+9co5CqtIQJqTXPjUJ86rRYYtkaVqDbesQCtLBOSIPWpyhgjqLFh81Va9XXWlmc0qhYiVg77CI570O3Z5kgCqqssZmOZprtbQ5SfWnquCrtKkDGIAOUwR4U6pjbahreDA92B5UJbhGmu9K42I8ji1y9Z2O3Xx8aCbu0bkwPqflRQO+x5QB/PhS7ROGCSxrMmu1e2dvKuVzRzYumEVdTJjrVrGZgTyPWq4c5lk7dKFdxRnTYVp2j5eA4xAGm1VxdwQPOkkMtJo6YfOeijn+1dsG2qOTQuIHUT0n5Vl37DL1ita2IAHQRXSgO4oJUSjPaY+HeDqJBrRUDkKl+woHIVbDqCJmaLQZTTyWtpNB4noq6c/0NOVn8VO3xoKORYO5IUNmdQfShspqZuld7Tp/Sno1ZDWcMTqdBT1i2FBgfGqYf3QaKHg689KVozyk3gqCWB/MD8f4DSVy7Tzd0zyJ1/nwoONwk95d+Y61yQYtXkWsNyO0UyAg5Vmj9KsGo7SrhZqHFKJpMtJk9aWmozfWu2UBQSNHCJmIbYLt40XMdR1b5GT+1XwiQgHr8daXdvvI6An4waG0ldth1rlcFSl2Csz3uQoUdNfWivhxlXbxqugOY07wzBrfkG9kIDMV7Mt3VEk5gY2B08K00WVvgCgRhECK62IC6bdKbxGBAtl0eVVgg7pEkqWmDttFLLw4ubYNwKHt3Lk5ScotFw2g3P3Z+NdQsYbmMWWkA9a6zRqdq6ERVXJcz6b5Cn13pPHtpHL9eX6120ltuVCd26XYExE/CjYK8Q0cjvQEEFZjXTT9a1gortpWbSVBJpLiSyJ6U2DS2O9w0dpGD8xlfCpPlXKlLRsNHDOYGmnI0Q1TD+6PKrijtM75A3sSfdI5jXyNPg/Des/FppNN4VpQdQP8Aau2gmvLaBYzCZtV35+P9azIrdpa/hpOYb867aGGpWGZ3Znwrtm3LAeNOta0q+Ct6k+ldtHepgbXSs22ZuGfH66VoMdKQA7w9a7aS0+oyKlcU1K7aBmfcGaIrV4DeW2XzED7u4PVkIUeprJF6K2vZXhFrELfa89xVsoH7kTGs7g/lqjwaYxbdHbHFLaWGVlV2N1SFJYaBCCe6RzMetGt8RtNcsHuKBYvIyliFDN2gUMxMicy/91cxfBcNcsXbuFuXS1gAul0ASpO4IHn8KzzwpPsH2mWz9t2UaZYiZ2mfWg8lIQ28dh7EooVMvZDTa27P8c21ZOOfvAGYG8VvcT4atm1hmUse1shzMaGBtA21pX2e4SmKxTW3LBRbLd0gGViNx407XlshGD8Supgt16VsW2kTWQRpB33itvi+EFrDYW4jMWvKWMxpEaLA8a7C5DKDmsdCtBxS901vWOE2rCL9suP2jDN2VoCVB2zk6TQ+I8HtvZa9hrjOqe+jiHXx03FG1RPwZJ/7k8aK5W5Z9nXuYIYq3LFWYOnMKuzL18RQvZjhSYm5cVywC2WuDKRusRuDprU8GpRdoFhz3RRJrnC7DXOzRfecgDzNaHHeGnD3mt6kCCp6qdj9R6VSuhl2um+hm3VkEUWxpHlFaOM4YqYSzfBbNcZlI0gZZ20nlWvj+DYOyVS5dvKzIGmFKieunhQwN4cmv+fc89UNbH9h5cXbsO0q8EOvNSDBE7HSjYnC4BHZGfESrFTAU6jQxpRwT8KXXHTJ5u4P540W2umnnpWicHaOHuXczZluBEBiCDrr4xJPT1rX4bw+1ZDi4zl3wrOwUCFttGxO7/KudIMdNvB5a5tSzjUU/wASsojxbudosAhog68mHIjnSNzl50doqw6OqalcFco7TmZrrFeu9groS1jnKhgtkEq2xjOYPhXkspaK2eE8XfBhyiI4uKFcOCRpPKeeahKDadGuE1GSs2+EY9Mbbv4ZbK4eU7XNaOjFI0uAjbbn1rOmeDD/AJn9KBi/a261traW7NgOIY2kylh0npSCcRuHDfZgkp2naZgGJnaJGkVPay29fY9R7St9zgf+WX6LQPYA/wDHN/ov9Vq9n2mcW7aNZst2aBBnUkwBHM+FIj2huW8V26Wba/d9nARgkEzOnPaqyhJQpohGUHq70/sebtsCB4jXma9ti0XsOFs3upDHyDKTPwrKf2oLqUGFwwzDLK24bvad3xrlziNy5ZtW3UAWQVUwQTMbzp8K6MHJqzpSUIun+2aftlaZcU7Ns8Mp5FYA0+FMeyQyribraWxZKseRJ2Hid/jSmB4/dVBbZEvINluLmK+RHKh8V4vevKEKhLY1yIhVfM9ad6cq219SSlFT8RP6fP3L4PiFzDcMs3LZhlxbAjkwytKnwMVq8Bwtq413F4eFV7FxbtqdbdwgNp1Uwf5t4nE8Uc2PsxUZFum6DrMmVjpGp+FD4VxG7YYtaJ1Uqw1IKnQ5gPryqEocmuOolR6X2Fwr9ncxCoWa0mW2AJm4wjTyB+dOcYwF18FbuXEZblg9m2YQWtnVW9CR86wcFxS8uHt2bYZFUlsyZgXJ5sRvTOG41fQOGLXFuKbZW5mI16SdDVNkm7IboJbc/wCjvFD/APzcN/qXP/tW7x3gf2i9a++tpNpVyky53MhefP4V4zE8RdrFuwygLbYsDqG70zM+dMYvil2/cS7lhkAUFAdMuoM6603hy6fMHiRp2r4+xv8A25bnEbCoCFtRaGYQTlkEkcv6UDiuHwXbXS1+4HztIFuQGkyJjrWXd407YhcQEQXFjRQYYgRJE7+XQVoN7R3CSThbBJ1JNoySetd4ck1Xbud4kZJp974ZgZjEct45Sd69RwbiZK3Ld+2G7PDvqZW5kEdyehB3rzOIu5mZoCySYGgE8gOVb/CuPEi4Ly2mIsOFZxDNtFsme8D030p9SDa4JaMkpcmdxzAogtXLRJt3VLKG95YMEHr51jXTqKf4jxF7zAtACjKqqIVV6AUhc5edFQdZFk1uwdWuVwGpR2isjQfA0azgjdK2l95yFHmdqT7VZgnWvU+yjW7QuYq62VLYyKYk530BC8yB9apOSUWykINySAe2mAtG0lzD+7Yb7Jcjqvut8SRPjRPZfGvZ4birls5XF5IMA75AdD4E0fgJwLdrhkxFx/tIiLiBQHEsGnrP0ofs26WcBixeti5lvKrW82WSMo0I6HX0rB0r5o9Cs38mNXr/ANqwV65dC9rZYQ4ABIMaGPM/Ku+0nHr+GtYMWWChrALAqGBgKNZ86x+J+0HaWxZt20s2gcxRTJJ6sTvWv7RcTw9u1g+1w6Xz2AglyMuiyCBvOm/Sr6kKSx1ePoQ03d0+iz9SmItIcVw3EKgQ34Z1XQZhGoHjmoze0V08QfD3Mtyy13ssjIPdJjQ76TWDgeMvieIYd7pCgXFVVGiqAdh+9elw3F7Bxt+0tq1avEutvETmm5yzA6Cf0io1Tyrx+S3Kw6yW4DYFnF4tU2S22XnGoI+H6Vg3fafEuhVrkhhBGVdiNeVavscXXEYgOQLnZtJYjV83XY60XiNjH3LTLcNjIRLQUBga6EeVaPKp+anxz+DPUnp+W1zwKWuE2b+BsI5CXme6LLnYtmY5GPQ/UfHN9l8K9scQt3FKuuHYEHkdfl41zjzj+zsJB1F24dDqPeinuE+0SXsPfW9AxAw7otzbtUAmG/xCPWT41Caav3f8l4U69l/Bb2H47fa9YsF5twVy5V2VSRrE8hSmM45fvXlt3HlBiFgZQPdeBqB0pH2BuAY2zJAHe3P+BqXsP/xP/uP/ANKtGMd/HT+yMnLYs9f6PV4zhq3+K3Vf3FAuP4hUXT1JFZ132vvZvuctq2PcRUWMvKdNaex/FlscUuO2ttgEeNe6yLr6ECkL3slcLZsO9q5ZmVfOBC/4h4bV0dqrfxSr8nTUs7Obd/gY4TxAX8fYfs1QzDZfxNlMsRyrvEfafEreuotyArsoGVdgSANq5wvCW7OOw6peW4Qe+R7qtB0Dc628b/aBZwhsZCzZZyTlJMT4xFdJwUlxVdQRU9ry7vp7Hhnckknckk+Z1NUY1a9aKMVO6kqYM6jTfnQmNbaVGGskmh3TtVi1BxDar50kkkikVkuprtVBqUMHNMwMJfyHaZgVpcduxlUDSB9P61j29x5ivU4vAW7pUMXDG6toEMoUBlJkgidOz6868GarWi/c9tek8zkJ2p9Vi1r+ZB86c/scLhzdkswRT3GUqM4ckzlOYdwdOdaKcGQ4ZGLNLBHMZWkwhMAbf3kQdTFW+Jk5NfQFHnOI7jypNjrXpuP8GFu2zgOYbKO8ICwjAsMkyc56RQk4AkjMXAEHOSqrcm2znsyRoAV3M6Hkapb2IVLBm2mItggSariFlQxEGRRbrZEldgdNQ2k/mGh8xVMWuZVYbfvzrMubEY1jLYL2weh+W1UvXnBMJK1biVou6AGN9fhtVsPauKe+wK0+mvKjOmtq/gDw0ns2IGskgeMbVMZibnZkNbgHSZ/nSi4Myr5dJYx8KBjrN3J32BXeB/t4022w4c89wfBcPmcmAconWnrOP7RmtlBAn5GDSvs/fC3CCQMwgT1HKmLWD7N3cnQz8CZk1SvkLq05tS7KgeDtEBoE5WaB5bVe1iHkBkyg6TPhNBw105HZepM0vYxLO6gmefwBpFNZHem23Zo4W4QNBPOmjdPSlEtmm489425zNGD3dCGqldnL7tA7vnHOqIpJGb4Vp2kJ3FDcKDz3iY0p1BReCC1rxRn4i2NSBr1oae6fMfwVpYhkIIkTHWk4lX8gfhSasVux2Zo0pvZldUVt7/zlNSufuf3/AFqV4zR7KMjA3gIBWSWHTypvjrANAGpnX1NZtj3l/wAw+tb2I4cLxBFyGNwWguWdWzMO8D0VuXSvSca1kyCeDDKmNOg2p24IsDxZf1ps8Je3ZN1yQcqdzITGYMYbUZfd38aLf4Tce0jArEZyBMgdmLswdx3gsjYnpTTttAkrZlY9+9pMUpcM16DG8BfM3ZsGytk90g5w6KRB5feqZ8DtSt72fujMSVOUsDE+6iBw4HNSConlImq7sJCpUqFGP3Q9PrRcZZldNCPSeorT4jg1XA2maRc0GUiI7xmRvNIduqss+6dD+hpIxYNWDjn6ncQoy2v8y/TWr4m+oYKVmanESO4B+YUHF2WZ1IGg/eaooujJGnV8ZOpaC3dPdKkwdpkUncYtcInQttJinW710Dop+ormGw4BuOeRgfHWmUMjqSWXzRfimCJtLdCgCYMecD5j507wzh3a4dZAM5hJ3GumtO8Ltpcw72u0DZsxjQ5ZOnzANUwF828BIMOhbTxD6g1aMVdvsYtTWk47FypUvZ2IYLhbC1dDKCyFpnwUGRXnZr6IcWlzDs6kd62dIEgwZB8eVeYwvG7S21U2ASBBMLr8RSaiSqivw2vqS3Nxt2hrDcPJRTkGqg6nwpyxwkx7ijzNP4e5mVSAACoIEbAjan7FwQJYfCmg75X2Metrz6GLdwLKrdxdiZms84SN4HjJNenxhGU6jY8q8pxJmywToR/PpRlGMuSvwupOWOA/9nKZ3IUSY2Xz6UJdM3ipHwij4Tidtc0KpzCdVnWB1pK372mx/Woa+nsaa4PW+I0Fpw9e5/T3L2zr/Og/apQ7bxr5fqKleQ4SbwaU1RiKCSI3p+7nRQVJEMG0POCAfMSfiaWwWjTEx+tPJYuOGgSpZU0H4n0VZ8ctejLduVE1wN4FmbBmXgBsmXqoGngAJPxrMs4hyYLtCiAJPNcsCOWUAeVM4Thl3IxKQFLAlyEUFCoYSxAkFlHrR1wV2FISQwB0IMA5SAQDoTnTTfvU9RoOpmKpFF4hea4fvHkKPxEQJn6gfCgXeIZj33c5ZA1OxGU6zzAjypk4G4LrAiSLec5SGhQYJJU6Qal7C3pNvsDJItjlqwkHXkQZnal3JcElF9WK2gvZhnkiOpPPpUxdoMgddhy8JA/anLWEYW0GUPJyjKysCQQSAwJGgIq3EeH3AgjswkBz94gEN7ka84MDcxXKbdobUgkk08geI4fvW1Uxv8qs99AchJBjefDrRcW47S3/ANQ+QrKx1ljdbTfn6CrKWLMOmtySfb8nLNsi7CtOu/huab4wpVRBIUkgjx3mq8KsZSzHlp+ppq7ZJtMCQTJIPrIoxVoac6mvkU4PhptkocrkaMPPn4UsLzm26tJMtMzvufnTHDsR2dnPGxEjwnWicQYMHZdiJ+W9c/TgS34jtWr/AIMrBYllMScpmVnQ6UV71sadkPiaUsDvD+cqJcmdppU2a3CLdjlriDQ0THLU90RoBS9niF2R323HOu4MHK/WgW7LSDlMSKa3jImyGcI9DxDGqsZy0MpManUH9qFxC6qqrGYMfv8ASk/aBv7vwU/Wi8ZH3Vr0/wDGjKTtkNKO1waCWCnZdo3U+cTA0+FKWMQpcBSdTz9af4e5GHBC5iJ0696ke0YukoVgn5ikm/KOqcn9f2hlV0blBjXn5dd65S1y8VYgbTP88NqlY56DvynpaexxXt3M+0x2HPT41r2uIth0y2wpAaWzLMmVIM+BtrSPCrUvP5dfXlR0tF+0EEywUR1MwPMxVJS81dicbo0+H8bvMjFiHnMO9OgOTQEHQdwfE0DB8Xu6DugpCCFiAMkT+Y/dJqZ3PLZfh+Gu9kxVGMSTAPLQ/MEelEs4N3XtFRip/EBpIn+elcm7ZzdpBcFxkrmcJaXMIaFOo7wjUnTvfIVbFcbvd24rKQji4ARMEQIB3y6beJrNXB3OxL5GygAlo0g6j5GaI2FdbPeRhKlxI/DoZ8oM0WsiWM4fj7Ed4IMrZ097QmA27ajujej4XiQRCjRlNtbes7JMag794155rLCZU6AE6bBvdnzkU1xHZafaJPOBniHetK8meRGm5/pS73SUzE6xv6xTYcCyhYSIGlKYlwUlRAjb1qnCIafaurGVyi2AxIBn+tK3bwT+6aZHenXbamXuKEXMubflNZ2JYFpUQI22o2GEbef8NPhyK1o5zC8486riblpbbLbeeQB10O9X4W6iyxcSusjwmh33s3WRbaZO93jAHdjXnTLgnT3vmr+gW1wkiz2g1fLmAnl0I8qpwpDeLA5RAB0Eb6aVrWH78e9byw0aGZ/bnSHCrapfuheXuEmYBJ3A30+laPDjGca4Am5KWc9DI7coWAjc7idq0+LBlRGCqqkDaJJiZIHlWTiFOZpnc8vE1scVctYXmJSI8FM/pUoemfyND5XGeSmBsjEBmuT3dBGmh1pviWGBRQSYH+1K8CfKjz1H0pjFXSQKjfcjKMt+OENYOyFQATFJ4tdee807hmlRS2K39aedOJDTtTyZ+NHfNSu473h4ipUrZ7GlOPhxvsL8NLahY8SeXKtLA8QNlCgVX72cklgcylSmxgRl6fibrWfwr8WnT9a5w7DOwdgrFV94gGBz1PlWd+piLhG3huPkrmZFnMHBBK95WZgWj3tW12mKzsHxA2FEBXi4bmvUoUiBy1mu2uHXIyG28tJC5TJE7gb0newDSFS25bplM6mB8wR6U0eQM07fGO0s9myID3QCIEZVCaLGm2wij/2xlYsUtnuLbgyJVQAwJBBbNlG/jWFh8DcNzILbFlILKASR59Ktj7RJEA+6TtyX3j5DnTOL3CjuLxaZWlGPaIiN3+doAKR3f8Oo8aWxCZlSeZA+NM/ZC8DIzHLmgAnTrpy1Gtdv4Rwto5Gys65TlOu5066AmmTwTk2Wv4cZBbLAARrz09azMScvcEERvWjxQIGGcakSN/d66Vj3ok5duVUZPRVqzXwjHIC0Acv60vxa20K2mXUAjx11ruLvKyIJ0kT4CKJisIOyBVmIJAAJ018KPyF9Mk33K4C2WsuBzB/elOHGGOg9071r4IFHCAaTBPSAI/Wk8Tb7K+4GxBK+Ta/v8KZKmmFStyXfIoMWyvIJ0M5Z08vKjjEwGcASY5nrSN5pYnrRmvk28s6afWujOryW2dhxuJm5oVEQeZrV4bdAtRmUEBRqdefjXmsM8NNPdtZjvqS/Myf09KeOpi28iOG1qlgcuYtnJMKFGk9YETQsbcYLIgik1u/c5fP60XDL/wAOx/zfSs7yxmqyaDYh0tB1APUa6A0NrpZVYx3uQ5U1ZcBEU/i7vype/ayhVGwNUaMcWt3Gb+wpix7h8KldxeiqfSpUKk+D0NL0iGDDSYMaaz8q08BxgqoUL3kLsrZoALgKcy/j2n+lIYCIcRqQI08daPbS2rKwM82BjTXXSpTklJ4KJYGhxRmu9pkQZWByiBJHU7k+NXwXE2sqn3aMERUnmwRmb3o1HeiPCkMMql2zEZZYft+lCxtq2Acj5oMe9OnlRjLzUKzQwl4IWlFKF1uBJAhkmBosFYc6R0IiKLiuNghU7AZQroMrkGLgIeCRAkkHb8NIcUtZURp1Pj4VdrXetidxPLeD+1ctRc+/2AkzS+3oVjs5+7FpgzAiFKlSJQie7Uw3HWzDLbyuChYliZ7NSi5RHd3B9I2NZRwwNxhnjLEbayOlTBoSzyfw0ylHuLJSoNxzFNddWYAQgXQad3c+E7xWSdTViB1+dSwJYedUG9MaYRbelN2LjRr7qSQPGNNfCajYa3pLQehIruGtjs7ka6sJ32FNFNMjqakZI5avu5LKcoB2Inlry8KvxbGC6VcLGkRM1ThfuPofhPKh2FGUSBGknx6etNbaoEajL2AhxExRLdqRy661dbIyOcsbxPKpjLYFtSBG3PwpNlDvVt0Da3rsOulWS3zMU5YsAqpI1gTrRBhl6f8Ayo+GyfjrgzrduCdRG9O3gzWwqwFPnrV2wq9D/wB1MYbCkiFBMaxI29aZQrkWespJCGJRmVRMQZojsxHeMkbmm7nDjzDj0H6GqdgBpB9RST1EujOgk+qFMUkoNQIJ3rlMhJEeJ+tcowktoVquNoV4ICCWjQwPUa1rcICIv3lslpu690jvhMkgjX3W56VncGYZCD+atIAV5urqOM5G1LCNB8TaJuyGZXcsFKDVMrQswMsFlM8o3NV7axusgwwQBUAtgqBAgGTI315nnWexEbfKhs/8igtafJzSH8JjkVAroX+9zEjL7ojcEa6g6aUK5jbSlR2TPkiHyhToragHcEsAQeWvIUkZiJ/hqFD1+VGOo0CkOcVxVlwpCguOeUKVXKBkn8Xekyf1rEwEh2kakaCQfoa0DroVkVRbVsco85HzrvF5wHajPXC/mXWTp/DQrGFYMCRseorRuI092CPOhliPwmvQjq6bSyZZLUTYvfwjOZUabbgUfCW3tghllT4jy+FFsXwBz3q17EyIAp90VmyLc35WsDDY7Jba3YWM2+gG+h8SaznwzG2EjURzH1oyt4VcYkc6XSk5J7sBlFxrbkplc2ypXvRG4jwoi2gVVWWY8v3qy3lqwuL1q2CDcuxVS2b3YUDqJnyoub/CflXBcHUVYXB1oiP2Oa/lPyqyuRsvxj964XAmNfChreB1JjwqWvKoOimlHdJXwWZ2P4R/PWhENzWP550ylwfmBqmKuiPHwrynrTeD0I6cI5QB2NSqDXlXK0Q9KM+ovMznBR3D/m/QVogVKlZNb/0ZsXATIOlCvCNqlSpR5AzjCq8/WpUp0EoDpQi5+VSpT9BJEyA8qFcuEHQ/r9alSm08vIEw6iVnnQxtUqUF1BqqngqRVTvUqUU3Yr4ZReddVa7UrXFsg2y+QV0LXKlVsS3R0muAampUqOs3tH0+SlUP8+NSpUoclx9VAAgVypUqKV3Zdo//2Q==" /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I had been wanting to
read The Billionaire’s Apprentice for quite a long time. Like many
others, I, too, was shocked when the news of Rajat Gupta’s
conviction in insider trading was announced by a US Court. What only
added fuel to the fire was the fact that two Indian immigrants Preet
Bharara and Sanjay Wadhwa were behind the conviction.</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
This is the first book on
an insider trading case written with the aid of nearly fifty
wiretapped calls. The author Anita Raghavan takes us behind the
scenes of the entire insider trading saga – right from the
childhood days of Rajat Gupta in Kolkata and New Delhi to his initial
days at Harvard and his entry into McKinsey. His success as indicated
by him being appointed the managing director of McKinsey three times
is juxtaposed with his eventual fall when he fell prey to Raj
Rajaratnam’s sneaky association.</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
As the book tells us,
Rajat Gupta was quite a hotshot guy – he was close to Mukesh
Ambani, head of Reliance Industries and was one of the few Indian
executives who could get Dr. Manmohan Singh on the phone at short
notice.</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The book mentions the
insider trading case in great detail including the various persons
involved, their modus operandi, the rise and fall of tech industry
and their stocks. The way the prosecution went about building the
case going through tons of documents to piece together the evidence
makes for interesting reading, especially for financial junkies like
me.</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
September 23, 2008 turned
out to be a red letter day for Rajat Gupta for that was the day the
Goldman Sachs had its board meeting information about which was
passed on by Gupta to Rajaratnam just before the stock markets
closed. While we may wonder what led Gupta to keep on passing
sensitive information, as respected and wealthy as he was, his
actions may be explained perhaps by his quote during his speech at
Columbia University in April-2004, “I think money is very
seductive. However much you say you will not fall into the trap of
it, you do fall into the trap of it.”</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The details of the trial
are also quite interesting with the author bringing out Gupta's
humane side and his family's reactions quite skillfully. According to
Bharara, his rationale behind going after people involved in insider
trading was that, “People with lots of money were trying to game
the system.” Judge Rakoff disallowed testimony on Gupta's
philanthropic plans, saying, “The annals of white-collar crime in
this district are filled with people who wanted to make themselves
respected, powerful members of society by giving to charity.”</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The book is a must-read
for those who are interested in reading about financial white-collar
crimes. It is also a must-read to understand what made a person like
Rajat Gupta, probably one of the most revered and influential
Indian-Americans in the world, indulge in insider trading. When
Rajaratnam was convicted, you do not feel bad or surprised because
his persona was such. But Gupta exuded a different personality and,
thus, his conviction affected everybody. The book stays with you long
after you have finished reading it; I went on to read much more about
the case and Gupta.</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Random snippets I found
interesting in the book about Rajat Gupta :)</div>
<ol>
<li><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Rajat Gupta's wife
Anita Mattoo was the only girl in a graduating class of 250 at
IIT-Delhi in 1968.</div>
</li>
<li><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Subramanian Swamy, a
well-known Indian politician, taught Rajat Gupta economics at
IIT-Delhi</div>
</li>
<li><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Rajat Gupta was one
of the youngest members of the Harvard Business School class of 1973
and one of three from India.</div>
</li>
</ol>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Random snippets I found
interesting in the book that have absolutely nothing to do with Rajat
Gupta :)</div>
<ol>
<li><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Golf arrived in
Calcutta in 1829, some sixty years before it reached New York.</div>
</li>
<li><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Governor-General
William Bentinck introduced English as the official language for
Indian higher education, a move that would have momentous
consequences a hundred years later.</div>
</li>
<li><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Narayana Murthy's
son could not get into IIT to study computer science so he had to go
to his safety school, Cornell University.</div>
</li>
<li><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
McKinsey has its
roots in a company founded in 1926 by James O. McKinsey, a certified
public accountant and University of Chicago professor.</div>
</li>
</ol>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
References to literature
in the book:</div>
<ol>
<li><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Rajat Gupta's most
remembered drama performance at IIT-Delhi was his role in Jean-Paul
Sartre's searing existential drama Men Without Shadows.</div>
</li>
<li><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Rajat and his wife
Anita acted together in a Hindi adaptation of the Moliere play The
Miser.</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
On his study table at
Harvard, Gupta kept a tattered piece of paper which read, “But I
have promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep – Robert
Frost.”</div>
</li>
<li><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The Guptas named
their first daughter Geetanjali after the Nobel Prize-winning epic
written by the Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore.</div>
</li>
<li><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Anita Raghavan's
mother came to the United States in 1959 for an internship at the
Brooklyn Public Library.</div>
</li>
</ol>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Additional reading for
those interested :)</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<a href="http://sree.net/stories/bt-gupta.html">http://sree.net/stories/bt-gupta.html</a></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aAFcbBlOkA">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aAFcbBlOkA</a></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10000872396390444657804578052990875489744">http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10000872396390444657804578052990875489744</a></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b><u>Note:</u></b> I was given a review copy of this book by the publisher Hachette India.</div>
palsworldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03335844971003117045noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8550147214974994776.post-9406613868816981162015-01-03T18:56:00.001+05:302015-01-03T18:56:59.699+05:30Book Review: The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe<img src="http://www.tworoadsbooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/EndofyourLife_bPB_11.jpg" height="320" width="198" /><br />
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I came across this book
quite by chance while randomly browsing some other books on the web.
The title of the book caught my eye as did its blurb – a mother and
a son jointly read books together and then discuss them, at a time
when the mother is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and does not have
very long to live.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
To say that I thoroughly
enjoyed the book would be an understatement. Firstly, the premise
itself is quite unique and nothing like anything that I have read
before. Secondly, it is a book
about books – it is quite liberally sprinkled with
all the books that the duo read for their 'book club' with their
varied observations on it. As a bookworm and a bibliophile, I could
not be more thrilled. Thirdly, we often do not read about a son
talking so passionately about his mother; there are several instances
of a father-daughter and a mother-daughter bonding.</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
When Will Schwalbe learns
that his mother is diagnosed with cancer, he does not know to react.
But he decides to turn to books. As he mentions, “Books reminded us
that no matter where Mom and I were on our individual journeys, we
could still share books, and while reading those books, we wouldn't
be the sick person and the well person.” They form a book club
where they frequently exchange books and discuss them.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
What I found fascinating
while reading the book was that Will's mother, Mary Anne, was a
perfect example of 'Lean In', much before Sheryl Sandberg coined the
term. She was the first female director of admissions at Radcliffe
and then Harvard. She also headed a girls' school in New York. In her
50s, she started helping refugees around the world visiting war zone
places like Bosnia, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Burma, etc., eventually
founding the Women's Refugee Commission. She also helped raise money
for a national library and cultural center at Afghanistan's Kabul
University. Basically, she achieved what most of us can only hope to
achieve in bits and pieces.
</div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Through the 'book club',
Will and his mother were not just reading and discovering books, they
were rediscovering themselves as well. Will notes, “I was learning
that when you're with someone who is dying, you may need to celebrate
the past, live the present, and mourn the future all at the same
time. Reading isn't the opposite of doing; it's the opposite of
dying. I will never be able to read my mother's favourite books
without thinking of her.” I completely agree with Will on this
point. I just find it wonderful how we build memories as we read
books. And don't most of our relationships have as their foundation a
common love for reading?</div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
During one of the book
discussions, Mary Anne said, “Every great religion shares a love
of books, of reading, of knowledge. When I think back on all the
refugee camps I visited, all over the world, the people always asked
for the same things: books.” She never wavered in her conviction
that books are the most powerful tool in the human arsenal, that
reading all kinds of books, in whatever format you choose is the
greatest entertainment and also is how you take part in human
conversation.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The book also touches
upon a very important point, one that Atul Gawande is now making with
his book 'Being Mortal' – end-of-life care. This focuses not just
on managing pain but also on helping patients and their families
maintain the best possible quality of life throughout the course of
an illness. Towards the end, when his mother realized that any
treatment would only reduce her quality of living, she chose to be
home with a caring nurse amidst her books and her collection of
pottery surrounded by her family.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Though you know right at
the beginning what the end is going to be, I would still urge you to
read this book. It fills you with a sense of hope and a sense of
wanting to do something with our limited time on this planet. Mary
Anne's life should inspire all of us; her warm nature, her deep
involvement with society, her commitment to her family and friends,
her passion with reading different genres of books and her belief
that, at the end of the day, kindness begets kindness. With this
book, I would like to believe the author Will Schwalbe has paid a
perfect homage to the memory of his mother.</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
As an aside, I came
across an interesting tidbit as I read the book. Will's sister-in-law
Nancy was commissioned by the second-richest family in India to do a
giant mural for the ballroom of the house they were building in
Mumbai, which would be the tallest private house in the world. For
those of us who stay in Mumbai it is not very difficult to imagine
who that family could be. For the others, does <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antilia_%28building%29">Antilia</a> ring a bell?</div>
palsworldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03335844971003117045noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8550147214974994776.post-43626698983564932892015-01-03T16:24:00.000+05:302015-01-03T16:25:26.543+05:30Book Review: The Most Beautiful Walk in the World by John Baxter<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<img src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327975719l/10780005.jpg" height="320" width="220" /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I picked up this book
with a lot of hope and excitement. I have been fascinated with
France, and particularly Paris, ever since I started learning French
from the 8<sup>th</sup> grade. But the book disappointed me. It is,
not as I expected, about the many walks through Paris and the
author's personal favourite. It is rather a collection of
observations the author has about Paris, only some of which are
related to him being a flaneur.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
But, that is not to say I
did not enjoy the book. It does mention tidbits about Paris and its
literary inheritance which a lot of visitors may not know about. The
author, who lives on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rue_de_l%27Od%C3%A9on">rue de l'Odeon</a> boasts of the famous bookstore Shakespeare and Company run by Slyvia
Beach; Slyvia lived in the author's building where James Joyce often
visited as did Scott Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein and Ernest Hemingway.
So, one may say, John Baxter is quite qualified to write about Paris
and its walks from a literary angle.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The author mentions that
Paris belongs to its pedestrians. He quotes the writer Edmund White
who wrote, “Paris is a world meant to be seen by the walker alone,
for only the pace of strolling can take in all the rich (if muted)
detail.” If the Paris of pedestrians has heroes, notes Baxter, they
are Georges Eugene Haussmann (who got people back on the streets in
the late 1800s) and Andre Malraux (the minister of culture).</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Before the author came to
Paris, he lived in Los Angeles which had “persuaded him that going
anywhere on foot wasn't just unusual but downright unnatural, even
illegal.” He mentions Ray Bradbury's 1951 short story “<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pedestrian">The Pedestrian</a>” set in a future Los Angeles where nobody walks.
The only man who defies this custom is hauled off by the Psychiatric
Center because “Who but a madman would walk for pleasure” I would
tend to agree. On my travels to the United States, I have observed
that nobody walks, not even in the suburbs. People drive down to the
nearest park and then take a walk there. The US is certainly not a
country for flaneurs in my opinion!</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The author also mentions
that since nobody walks like the French, they are the people who have
raised the political walk to near perfection. Parisians grow up with
the promenade, or stroll, as a natural part of their lives.</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Baxter gives some
interesting tidbits about the various metro stations in Paris, at
least I found them wonderfully fascinating. Pont Neuf, nearest to Le
Monnaie, displays old coinage and an ancient hand press. At Concorde,
each tile bears a single letter, as if for a giant game of Scrabble.
At Varenne, nearest to the Musee Rodin, full-size replicas of his
Thinker and statue of Honore de Balzac rule the platform.
Louvre-Rivoli station is elaborately decorated with facsimile
Egyptian status and other antiquities.</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
During the course of the
book, the author takes us through some amazing anecdotes about
Hemingway's life; he takes us underground Paris's streets where the
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catacombs_of_Paris">catacombs</a> lie;
he talks about the fascination painters have with the city; and how
the French really love their food.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
At the end of the book,
he also gives some tips to visitors. I found the following ones
interesting:</div>
<ol>
<li><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
A true French cafe
breakfast remains one of the great pleasures of life in Paris.</div>
</li>
<li><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Paris's twenty
arrondissements spiral out from Notre Dame, with something
interesting in each of them.</div>
</li>
<li><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Paris's rare-book
market takes place every weekend on rue Brancion in the fifteenth,
in what used to be an old slaughterhouse.</div>
</li>
<li><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Afternoon hot
chocolate at Proust's favourite cafe, Angelina.</div>
</li>
<li><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Climb the famous
stone staircases of Montmartre around 5.00 a.m. or take the little
cable car, buy coffee and rolls, and eat breakfast on the terrace
below the Cathedral of Sacre-Coeur.</div>
</li>
</ol>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Though the book did not
live up to its title, I did enjoy reading it and the various little
pieces of information it offered me in terms of its past inhabitants
and how they came about to shape and build the city as we know it
today. Rest assured, when I do visit Paris, I will be taking this
book along with me if only as a kind of a tour guide.</div>
</div>
palsworldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03335844971003117045noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8550147214974994776.post-30138168432921037532014-12-07T15:23:00.000+05:302014-12-07T15:23:27.234+05:30Book Review: The Winner's Curse by Dee Walker<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<img height="320" src="http://deewalksite.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/thewinnerscurse-2.jpg" width="212" /><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, serif;">The
Winner's Curse is a political thriller about national ID numbers,
power and greed. It narrates the story of how a group of IITians use
their knowledge and networking to create a governance technology
based on national ID numbers and how greed for power leads to their
doom.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, serif;">The
story seemed quite interesting and topical. If you have been
following current news for the last two-three years, you will be able
to link and identify situations and people. UIDAI (Unique
Identification Authority of India) was launched in India with such
fanfare in Feb-2009 and most of us have already obtained an AADHAAR
card. The book also touches on the sensitive and controversial topic
of governments spying on its citizens; something that Edward Snowden
exposed quite shockingly to the entire world in Jun-2013. Also, the
book's characters be it businessmen or politicians are easily
identifiable as they seem to be inspired by real-life people.</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, serif;">The
book's story moves across New Delhi, Haryana, Dubai, Bangalore,
Dharwar and San Jose. It has an equal mix of businessmen (telecom
moguls Harsh Mittal & Rajan Khosla), politicians (the Master),
Govt. officials (Raghav Badhwar & Aravind Pandey) and activists
(Kamal Pandey). There's also the Master's son-in-law Robbie who seems
quite similar to a certain famous son-in-law quite in the news these
days. Kamal Pandey's middle-class, activist image seems to be
inspired by another 'Aam Aadmi'. Savita Bhambi, the influential PR
person, reminds us of another PR lady who was in the news quite
sometime back.</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, serif;">Though
the book's primary plot is setting up a national identity number
system and using that to set up a secret surveillance system, the
plot does not begin to unravel till almost half the book is over.
Also, the author has tried to include too many sub-plots as part of
the book; this leads to there being too many characters spread across
multiple locations. It tends to get quite confusing at times.</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, serif;">In
addition to the primary plot, there is a civil activist who is trying
to expose the business-political nexus; there is a mining scam in the
state of Karnataka and there is an IIT JEE preparation coaching
class.</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, serif;">All
the central characters have studied at IIT – the country's premier
educational institution. However, each person chooses his/her
separate path towards achieving their goals – be it power, money,
status or serving the people.</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, serif;">The
pace of the book is quite fast befitting a thriller. However, since
there are multiple characters, I had to go back and forth several
times. Also, the intimate scenes/hints at them seem to have been
inserted merely from the point of selling the book; they do not seem
to have any connection with the story whatsoever.</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, serif;">I
am going with 3/5 for this book for the way in which a topical story
is narrated linking together disparate items. I only wish the author
had restricted the sub-plots. Also, the editing is very bad; words
and entire paragraphs have been repeated.</span></div>
<br />
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, serif;">I
was given a review copy of this book by the author.</span></div>
palsworldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03335844971003117045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8550147214974994776.post-51497986156397313432014-10-26T11:05:00.001+05:302014-10-26T11:07:54.282+05:30Book Review: God Is A Gamer by Ravi Subramanian<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<img 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" /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Let
me confess, at the outset, that I am a huge fan of Ravi Subramanian's
books. His 'The Incredible Banker' remains one of my favourite books
till date. I also happened to win an autographed copy of 'Devil In
Pinstripes' in one of the contests on Twitter.</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The
blurb of 'God Is A Gamer' states: What happens when you cross gamer,
banker, politician and terrorist with virtual money? From the
bestselling author of <i>If God Was a Banker</i> comes the first ever
bitcoin thriller. <i>God Is a Gamer</i> is a world where money means
nothing, martyrs are villains, predators are prey, assassination is
taught by the ancient Greeks, and nothing is as it seems. Moving from
Washington's Congress to Delhi's finance ministry, the beaches of Goa
to the corporate boardrooms of Mumbai, this is Ravi Subramanian's
most gripping novel yet.</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The
premise of the novel is definitely interesting – a thriller that
connects an ATM heist in New York with a website <i>Cotton Trail</i>
which enables transactions in bitcoins to the addictive world of
online gaming and the workings of multinational banks and the hacking
risks they are exposed to. The story connects the murder of a senator
in Washington with the suicide (?) of the CEO of a MNC bank in India
to a hit-and-run case and laptop users getting burnt due to
overheating of their machines. It is quite unusual in the sense that
it moves effortlessly across seemingly disparate incidents and
distinct locations (Washington, Delhi, Mumbai, Goa, Ukraine, New York
City, Sangamner, Stanford, etc.)</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The
book is certainly a page-thriller and I finished it in almost one
sitting; the chapters are shorter and crisper compared to his earlier
novels and make for easier reading. I liked how he has incorporated
into the story the tale of how Socrates died; I also liked the way
John Keats' 'Ode to a Nightingale' appeared in the narrative. All
the characters such as Aditya, Varun, Tanya, Swami, Malvika,
Sundeep,etc. were developed quite well with their mannerisms and
intricacies told in a detailed fashion. Ravi has quite intelligently
given the characters real-life names: Vijay Banga (President,
Mastercard International) sounds similar to Ajay Banga, CEO of
Mastercard; Aditya Rao (pioneer in banking in India) sounds similar
to Aditya Puri, MD of HDFC Bank; Malvika Sehgal, CEO of New York
International Bank could be any of the leading female bank CEOs in
India currently – Chanda Kochhar, Shikha Sharma, Kalpana Morparia,
etc.</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Ravi
has done quite a bit of research while writing this book –
explaining the intricacies and technicalities of bitcoins (digital
currency which not many are familiar with yet) and online gaming
(including advertising it on Facebook and the manner in which it
generates revenues). However, sometimes it got too technical for me
and I had to re-read entire paragraphs to try and understand what was
being said.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I
felt the author has tried so hard to write about multiple elements
that it has become quite a mish-mash. At times, it became quite
difficult to keep track of who was who and what role that person had
played so far in the story. Combining so many elements into a single
story meant that no story really grew on its own; it seemed as if all
of them were stretched liberally to connect in the end.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Also,
there were quite a few grammatical and spelling errors in the book.
For instance on Page 36, the sentence reads as “It was only on her
mother's insistence that <u><b>had she</b></u> come back to India in
the intervening period.” The word deposition is misspelled as
depostion on Page 196. On Page 219, the sentence reads as “She
couldn't <u><b>take her eyes of</b></u> the glittering diamond ring.”
Towards the end, it appeared as though the author was in a rush to
finish the book – the last chapter seems to be written hurriedly,
almost in bullet points-like sentences.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">All
in all, the book makes a good read but I would not call it one of the
author's best works till date. Read it to enlighten yourself about
the intricate web of online gaming, bitcoins and banks' security
systems.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">This review is a part of the biggest <a blog.blogadda.com="" href="https://www.blogger.com/%3C/span%3E%3Ca%20href=" http:="" indian-bloggers-book-reviews="" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">http://blog.blogadda.<wbr></wbr>com/2011/05/04/indian-<wbr></wbr>bloggers-book-reviews</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">" target="_blank"> Book Review Program </span></span></span><br />
for <a href="https://www.blogger.com/%3C/span%3E%3Ca%20href=" http:="" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc;" target="_blank" www.blogadda.com="">http://www.blogadda.com</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">" target="_blank">Indian Bloggers.</span> Participate now to get free books!palsworldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03335844971003117045noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8550147214974994776.post-19681080629990594302014-10-19T16:16:00.000+05:302014-10-19T16:16:50.322+05:30Book Review: Grand Delusions: A Short Biography of Kolkata<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<img src="http://alephbookcompany.com/sites/default/files/styles/190x292/public/books/Kolkata.JPG" /></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I happened to pick up
this book purely by accident while browsing one of the online
websites. And I am glad I did. Kolkata is one of those old, charming
cities which its inhabitants seem to adore completely, despite the
traffic & the pollution. To me, Kolkata conjures up images of the
Hooghly bridge and Durga Puja, of the underground metro and the tram,
of sandesh and puchkas.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Indrajit Hazra has
captured all this and more beautifully in his ode to the lovely city.
Hazra discusses the intricacies of the geographical spread of the
city (North vs. South), the political scenario – past & present
[including the Naxalbari movement], the movie industry, the
bookstores & eateries on Park Street and the different
communities co-existing peacefully in the city [prominently, the
Marwaris who migrated from Rajasthan to Bengal in the 17<sup>th</sup>
century to trade in cotton, opium, salt, cloth and indigo].</div>
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<br /></div>
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Hazra has lived away from
Kolkata for the last 15 years. He says he is one of the best people
to write a book on the city because “After all, you don't see the
Mona Lisa from inside the frame; you have to stand in front of it.”</div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
There are quite a few
nuggets of information liberally spread out across the book. For
instance, I learnt that the Calcutta Club on Lower Circular Road
changed its rules to allow women members only in 2007.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The book is an easy read
and, at 145 pages, a quick one. The author's writing style is
free-flowing & informal. Since the book speaks about different
topics, it is not necessary for one to read it from start to end.
Read the book for a different take on the city – a take of an
insider, who's now an outsider. And the cover of the book (by Turmeric Design) is stunning - really captures the essence of the city.</div>
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On my first, and so far
only, visit to Kolkata in March-2010, I took time out to visit the
Victoria Memorial, the Howrah Bridge and Flury's – all of which
find mention in the book. I also took a tram ride and visited the
oldest banyan tree in the world. Though the book may not be intended
as one but you can also use it as a travel guide, bookmarking sights
& activities that you may wish to tick off when you visit the
city.</div>
palsworldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03335844971003117045noreply@blogger.com0